Last Updated on 23/01/2022
Occupied Jerusalem: Nine Palestinians, including a Hamas commander and three children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip.
According to Arab media, Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip targeted residential areas in Beit Hanoun, northwest of Gaza.
Arab media quoted Palestinian officials as claiming that several shells fell on moving vehicles and motorbikes and piled up bodies on the road. The videos on social media feature gruesome scenes from the scene.
According to Arab media reports, nine people, including three children, have been martyred as a result of the shelling.
Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conrex said Hamas had fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for an Israeli operation in the compound of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in response to which the Israeli army launched an airstrike in Gaza.
A senior Hamas commander was also killed in the attack, according to the spokesman. “We have started, I repeat, we have started targeting military targets in Gaza,” the spokesman added.
Sources in Gaza confirmed to Agence France-Presse that a Hamas commander had been killed in the attack.
According to Arab media, the martyred commander has been identified as Muhammad Abdullah Fayyaz.
Earlier, it was reported that the Palestinian resistance group Hamas fired rockets from the Gaza border into occupied Jerusalem, after which sirens sounded in Israel and parliament was evacuated, but no casualties were reported.
Hamas has given an ultimatum to Israel to immediately remove the Israeli army from Al-Aqsa Mosque and other important religious sites.
