The Israeli Defense Forces say they scored a key victory over the weekend with the killing of Rafa’a Salameh, commander of Hamas’ Khan Yunis Brigade and a man who Israelis say played a central role in the Oct. 7 terrorist assault on Israel.
The IDF attack in the southern Gaza Strip also targeted Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, though his fate remains unknown.
The attack, while a military success for Israel, has given more ammunition to critics who say that the IDF is indiscriminately killing innocent Palestinians. Gaza health officials said that 90 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli strike, making it one of the single deadliest incidents in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says that the total death toll since Oct. 7 now stands at 38,664 — though the Hamas figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants, and some analysts stress that fewer civilians have been killed in Gaza than in other recent urban battles around the world.
Meanwhile, Israel’s ongoing fight with the United Nations took another turn late last week. Israel accused the U.N. relief agency for Palestinians of keeping more than 100 Hamas or Islamic Jihad militants on its payroll in the Gaza Strip and is demanding they be fired.
Israeli Foreign Ministry officials reportedly sent a letter to Philippe Lazzarini, chief of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, listing the names and ID numbers of the staffers it says are terrorists.