Israel said Monday that an airstrike in Gaza over the weekend targeted a senior Hamas military leader, but it was still trying to determine whether he had been killed.
The strike on the presumed hideout of Marwan Issa took place "between Saturday and Sunday,” Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told a news briefing Monday.
He said the compound in central Gaza was used by two senior members of Hamas, including Issa, who Israel accuses of being one of the key planners behind Hamas’ October 7 terror attack on Israel.
Issa is second in command of Hamas' military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.
"We are still examining the results of the strike, and final confirmation has yet to be received," Hagari said.
The comments come as Palestinians marked the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on Monday.
Fighting continued despite efforts to secure a new cease-fire between Israel and Hamas during Ramadan.
Israel reported carrying out attacks across the Gaza Strip on Monday, including conducting airstrikes and ground attacks in Khan Younis and other areas of southern Gaza, as well as in central Gaza.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said Monday that 67 people had been killed in Israel’s offensive during the past day, with at least 31,112 killed since war began in October.
The violence followed weeks of negotiations that included Egypt, the United States and Qatar to secure a new cease-fire before Ramadan that would have included a release of hostages held by militants in Gaza and Israel setting free Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas negotiators said in departing talks in Cairo last week that cease-fire negotiations would resume this week.
In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated his appeal for a cease-fire for the Muslim holy month to speed adequate aid to Palestinians in Gaza and secure the release of all hostages held by Hamas.
“The eyes of the world are watching. The eyes of history are watching,” Guterres told reporters. “We cannot look away. We must act to avoid more preventable deaths.”
He said desperate civilians need “immediate action.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Monday that “an important step now would be a cease-fire that lasts longer, ideally during Ramadan already.”
During a news briefing in Berlin alongside Malaysia’s prime minister, he said, “More humanitarian aid must reach Gaza, and that is our clear call to Israel, which has every right to defend itself against Hamas.”
A U.S. Army ship is on its way to the Mediterranean Sea to start construction of a temporary pier on the Gaza coastline to provide passage for more truckloads of humanitarian aid to famished Palestinians. Officials, however, said it could be two months before the facility is built and operating.
The eventual plan is for more food and medical supplies to be dispatched to the temporary pier in Gaza from nearby Cyprus after Israeli forces inspect the cargo to make sure no weaponry is included for Hamas militants.
The temporary pier is needed because Gaza has no port infrastructure and has been under an Israeli navy blockade since 2007, when Hamas took control of the enclave. There have been few direct sea arrivals since then.
A Spanish charity ship carrying food aid was expected to soon set sail from Cyprus. The nongovernmental group Open Arms said its vessel would carry 200 tons of food, which its partner, the U.S. charity World Central Kitchen, would then unload on the shores of Gaza where it had constructed a basic dock.
The October 7 terror attack on Israel killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of about 250 hostages.
The United Nations has warned that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are starving, and that the daily number of aid trucks entering Gaza by land over the past five months has been far below the 500 that entered daily before the war because of Israeli restrictions and security issues.
The U.S. Central Command and the Royal Jordanian Air Force conducted a combined humanitarian assistance airdrop into northern Gaza on Sunday, dropping more than 11,500 meal equivalents, as well as other items including rice, flour, pasta and canned food into the territory.
Officials say the airdrops are insufficient to cover the vast food needs in Gaza. Five people were also killed days ago when a food pallet hit them after its parachute failed to deploy correctly.
Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
