TEL AVIV, October 3. /TASS/. Three months ago, the Israeli army dealt a serious blow to Hamas, eliminating senior officials Rawhi Mushtaha and Sameh al-Siraj, the Israeli army’s press office announced on Thursday.

"As a result of the joint strike by the IDF [the Israeli Defense Forces] and the Israel Security Agency [ISA] about three months ago the following terrorists were eliminated: Rawhi Mushtaha, head of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, Sameh al-Siraj <…> and Sami Oudeh," the army’s press office said in a statement on its Telegram account.

Initial reports about the elimination of three high-ranking Hamas officials were earlier circulated by the Asharq al-Awsat daily, which cited its unnamed sources.

The Jerusalem Post reported on Thursday quoting the IDF’s press service that the three Hamas officials were eliminated while they were hiding inside "a fortified and equipped underground compound in the northern Gaza Strip."

"Mushtaha was considered to be the most senior figure in the Hamas political bureau in the Gaza Strip and, during the war, maintained civil control of the Hamas regime while simultaneously engaging in terrorist activity against Israel," the Jerusalem Post reported.

"Sameh al-Siraj, who held the security portfolio on Hamas's political bureau and Labor Committee, and Sami Oudeh, the commander of Hamas's General Security Mechanism, were killed alongside Mushtaha," the daily added citing the Israeli military.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 240 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly.

Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.