CAIRO, October 19. /TASS/. The commander of the National Security Forces in the Palestinian Gaza Strip, which is under the administrative rule of Hamas, General Jihad Abd Muheisin, was killed during an Israeli bombardment of the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, the Palestinian news agency Maan has said.

"General Muheisin and several members of his family were killed as a result of a direct hit by an Israeli shell in the house where the head of the Gaza security forces was at the moment," the report reads.

Hamas has issued a statement on the general's death, indicating that "the deliberate killing of leaders will not prevent the security forces from continuing to act professionally, and the movement, from continuing to resist [Israeli] aggression."

The agency also said that some time ago, General Fouad Abu Butihan, the chief of Gaza’s border crossings authority, was killed in an Israeli attack on a neighborhood in the southern city of Nuseirat. Several members of his family were also killed in the bombing.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when Palestinian militants from the Hamas movement attacked Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Israel has announced a total blockade of Gaza and carried out strikes on targets inside Lebanon and Syria. Hostilities have also broken out on the West Bank.

More than 3,700 Palestinians have been killed in clashes and strikes, while over 12,500 have suffered wounds since the renewed outbreak of violence began. In Israel, more than 1,500 people have lost their lives and over 4,600 have been wounded.