In Gaza, Israel hits Hamas boss Ismail Haniyeh's house; he was seen thanking god on success of Oct 7 attack

Israeli fighter jets hit the house of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political bureau of the terrorist organisation Hamas, The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said on Thursday.

The IDF claimed that the house was being “used as a terrorist infrastructure and, among other things, as a meeting place for the organisation’s senior officials”.

“Overnight, IDF fighter jets struck the residence of Ismail Haniyeh, the Head of Hamas’ Political Bureau. The residence was used as terrorist infrastructure and a meeting point for Hamas’ senior leaders to direct terrorist attacks against Israel,” IDF said in a post on X.

Overnight, IDF fighter jets struck the residence of Ismail Haniyeh, the Head of Hamas’ Political Bureau.

The residence was used as terrorist infrastructure and a meeting point for Hamas’ senior leaders to direct terrorist attacks against Israel. pic.twitter.com/kljYYN6O0U

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 16, 2023

Also, Israeli soldiers claimed to have discovered and destroyed a weapons cache belonging to Hamas’s naval forces, which allegedly contained diving gear, explosive devices, and weapons.

During the operation, the IDF said that they targeted and struck individuals identified as terrorists while locating various weapons, including explosive belts, explosive barrels, RPGs, anti-tank missiles, communication equipment, and intelligence documents. It is important to note that The Guardian was unable to independently verify these claims.

Israeli forces dropped leaflets warning Palestinians to flee parts of southern Gaza, residents said Thursday, signaling a possible expansion of operations to areas where hundreds of thousands of people who heeded earlier evacuation orders are crowded into U.N.-run shelters and family homes.

Meanwhile, soldiers continued searching Shifa Hospital in the north, in a raid that began early Wednesday but has yet to uncover evidence of the central Hamas command center that Israel has said is concealed beneath the complex. Hamas and staff at the hospital, Gaza’s largest, deny the allegations.

Broadening the offensive to the south — where Israel already carries out daily air raids — threatens to worsen an already severe humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory. Over 1.5 million people have been internally displaced in Gaza, with most having fled to the south, where food, water and electricity are increasingly scarce.

The war, now in its sixth week, was triggered by a wide-ranging Hamas attack into southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which the militants killed over 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and captured some 240 men, women and children. Israel responded with a weekslong air campaign and a ground invasion of northern Gaza, vowing to remove Hamas from power and crush its military capabilities.

More than 11,200 Palestinians have been killed, two-thirds of them women and minors, according to Palestinian health authorities. Another 2,700 have been reported missing, with most believed to be buried under the rubble. The official count does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths.

With inputs from AP.