TEL AVIV, November 1. /TASS/. The IDF eliminated Hamas Politburo member Izz al-Din Kassab in the Gaza Strip, the army press office reported.
According to the IDF, the senior official was eliminated by a precision strike, carried out by the Israeli Air Force near the city of Khan Yunis based on reconnaissance data.
"Kassab was one of the last high-ranking members of the Hamas Politburo that remained in the Gaza Strip. His assistant Ayman Ayesh was eliminated along with him," the statement says.
The IDF claims that Kassab was involved in the organization of terror attack aginst the Jewish state. He "had significant power" and worked on upholding Hamas’ "strategic and military ties with other [Palestinian] factions in the Gaza Strip," the statement says.
The situation in the Middle East escalated dramatically when on October 7, 2023 armed Hamas supporters from the Gaza Strip penetrated Israeli territory, killing residents of border settlements and seizing more than 240 hostages.
In retaliation, Israel launched a military operation in the enclave in order to destroy the military and political structures of Hamas and liberate all those hostages. The hostilities in the Gaza Strip continue to this day.