The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Saturday that it killed an Islamic jihad commander, who is said to have been the logistics head in Rafah for the pro-Iranian militia allied with the Palestinian Islamist Hamas group.The attack, part of airstrikes, took place east of Rafah, the army said, adding that the IDF is continuing its operations in the southern city and also in the centre and north of the Gaza Strip.In the airstrikes, Israeli troops also destroyed weapons depots and rocket positions belonging to the Islamists, the IDF said.Fierce fighting has been raging for days in the refugee settlement of Jabalia in northern Gaza.Israeli soldiers have killed several militants in armed clashes over the last 24 hours, the military said on Saturday morning. They also destroyed several tunnel shafts and a rocket position.According to Palestinian reports, the Israeli attacks in Jabalia have claimed many civilian victims.At least 15 people were killed and a further 30 injured when Israeli tanks fired on the entrance to a shelter, the Palestinian news agency Wafa wrote on Saturday. The information could not be independently verified.Near the so-called Nezarim corridor, Israeli soldiers encountered a squad of Islamists equipped with bazookas. An Israeli drone took out the enemy fighters, according to the IDF statement. The information could not initially be independently verified.The Nezarim Corridor is occupied by the Israeli army. It divides the Gaza Strip into two parts roughly down the middle.The Gaza war was triggered by the unprecedented massacre of more than 1,200 people killed by Hamas and other groups in Israel on October 7.Israel has responded with massive airstrikes and a ground offensive.Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health authority said more than 35,000 Palestinians have died since the start of the war. The figures, which cannot be independently verified, do not distinguish between civilians and armed fighters.The Rafah offensive has led to criticism abroad amid fears of mass casualties among civilians who are sheltering there.Allies including the United States have repeatedly warned Israelagainst a large-scale attack on Rafah due to the presence there of hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinian civilians.However, in Rafah, the Israeli leadership says it wants to smash the last Hamas battalions believed to be there.Israel has called on people to leave the area and so far, around 800,000 people have left the city since Israel launched the Rafah operation almost a fortnight ago, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
