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Smoke billows over Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip during Israeli bombardment on March 11, 2024 — the Israeli army said it conducted an air strike that targeted the area where a key figure in Hamas’ leadership was said to have been hiding.
AFP
The war in Gaza is now on its 158th day, and the world waits in bated breath for an update from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) following a strike that specifically targeted Marwan Issa, the deputy leader of Hamas’ military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, chief of the IDF’s spokesperson’s unit, said Monday that the strike targeting Issa was still being assessed for final results, considering how the area was on an underground compound.
In the northern border with Lebanon, Israeli forces have been responding to missile launches from the Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah. The Hamas ally said it targeted an Israeli army strike Monday near the tension-packed border.
Over in the Houthi-disrupted Red Sea, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said Tuesday that it received a report of a “boarding” incident.
Meanwhile, truce talks mediator Qatar said talks for a ceasefire were ongoing even as both Israel and Hamas failed to reach an agreement ahead of the Ramadan month. The Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected Hamas’ “delusional” demands for the exchange of some 130 hostages still being held in Gaza.
Amid increasing pressure from the international community for a ceasefire, fighting has only intensified in the devastated Gaza Strip as fueled by decades of violence in the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Tensions are reaching a boiling point between Netanyahu and U.S. President Joe Biden as the former vowed Israel will pursue a military ground operation in Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have sought shelter due to the unending bombardment.
