The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announced on Monday that three prisoners, among eight severely wounded by Israeli airstrikes, have succumbed to their injuries. The Brigades stated, “We will delay announcing the names and pictures of the deceased for the coming days until the fate of the remaining injured is clarified.”
This announcement followed the Israeli military’s earlier statement today about the successful rescue of two detainees in what it called “Operation Rafah,” noting that they were in good health and had been transferred to the hospital. The identities of the two released detainees were disclosed, with one being 70-year-old Louis Her and the other 60-year-old Fernando Marman.
In the early hours of the day, Israeli forces launched a series of violent attacks on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, later indicating that the strikes targeting the Al-Shabura area in southern Gaza had concluded. Al Arabiya/Al Hadath’s correspondent reported intense Israeli shelling in the north of the city amidst clashes with Palestinian factions. He also noted that Israeli helicopters fired heavily in the central Rafah governorate, amidst intense land and sea bombardment across the city.
Ambush in Khan Younis
This escalation in Rafah came after the Israeli army fell into a major ambush east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Israeli sources revealed that transporting the dead and wounded took several hours due to the ambush. On October 7th last year, Hamas launched a surprise attack, infiltrating Israeli military bases through the border fence and attacking border settlements in the Gaza envelope, resulting in the death of approximately 1140 people, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli sources.
During the attack, about 250 people were taken hostage to Gaza, and around 100 of them were released during a ceasefire at the end of November. Currently, according to Israel, 132 hostages remain in Gaza, and it is believed that 27 of them have died.
