Hamas claims killing Israeli soldiers, Israel confirms killing Hamas commander

Hamas on Sunday claimed that its fighters killed and wounded some Israeli soldiers who were trying to infiltrate Rafah City in the southern Gaza Strip, reported Xinhua.

"Our fighters monitored a private Israeli force hiding inside a truck loaded with humanitarian aid ... then the soldiers entered a local Palestinian house and hid inside it," al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said in a press statement.

Al-Qassam said "our fighters clashed with the soldiers, attacking them with home-made shells, killing and wounding all of them."

The Israeli army has not commented on the incident yet.

Israel has been waging a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 others were taken hostage.

Meanwhile, Israeli security forces confirmed on Sunday that they killed Rafa'a Salameh, the commander of Hamas's Khan Younis Brigade, in airstrikes in the Gaza Strip on Saturday.

In a statement, the Israeli military and Shin Bet internal security agency said Salameh was killed in the area of Khan Yunis.

Israeli warplanes on Saturday bombed the tents of displaced people in the Mawasi area in Khan Younis, killing at least 90 Palestinians and wounding 300 others, most of them women and children, according to the health authorities in Gaza.

Israeli media reported that Mohammed Deif, the commander of Hamas's military wing, and Salameh were the targets of the Israeli airstrike.

Israel has not confirmed Deif's status but a Hamas official said on Sunday that the senior militant, who survived at least seven assassination attempts by Israel, has survived the recent attack.

"Salameh was one of the closest associates of Mohammed Deif," the military said, adding he was also "one of the masterminds" of Hamas' rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023.

Salameh joined Hamas in the early 1990s. In 2016, he was appointed commander of the Khan Yunis Brigade, and was responsible for launching projectiles from the Khan Yunis area towards Israeli territory and overseeing the operation of attack tunnels, the military said.

"The elimination of Rafa'a Salameh significantly impedes Hamas' military capabilities," the military noted.