Israel Reports the Death of Hamas Armed Wing Spokesperson; Security Cabinet Meeting Planned

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Israeli defence minister Israel Katz has said Hamas’ armed wing spokesperson Abu Obeida had been killed by the Israeli military in Gaza.

“Hamas terror spokesperson Abu Obeida was eliminated in Gaza,” Katz said in a post on X overnight, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also confirmed Israeli forces had targeted the spokesperson.

It comes as Israeli forces struck the suburbs of Gaza City overnight from the air and ground, destroying homes and driving more families out of the area as Netanyahu’s security cabinet was set to discuss a plan to seize the city.

Israel has decimated Hamas’s leadership during 23 months of fighting in the Gaza Strip, saying it seeks to eradicate the armed group and return hostages seized by Palestinian militants in their October 7 attack in 2023 that escalated the conflict.

Israel’s military chief Eyal Zamir promised to continue targeting Hamas’s leadership, most of which he said was now abroad.

Hamas has not commented on the killing of Obeida, also known as Hudaifa al-Kahlut, who is a well-known figure to Palestinians and Israelis alike, close to Hamas’ top military leaders and in charge of delivering the group’s messages, often via video, for around two decades, delivering statements while wearing a red keffiyeh that concealed his face.

In his last statement on Friday, he warned that the planned Israeli offensive on Gaza City would endanger the hostages.

Israeli gunfire and strikes kill at least 30 people, local officials say

Residents of Sheikh Radwan, one of the largest neighbourhoods of Gaza City, said the territory had been under Israeli tank shelling and airstrikes throughout Saturday and on Sunday, forcing families to seek shelter in the western parts of the city.

The Israeli military has gradually escalated its operations around Gaza City over the past three weeks, and it ended temporary pauses in the area last week that had allowed for aid deliveries, designating it a “dangerous combat zone”.

Local health authorities said Israeli gunfire and strikes killed at least 30 people on Sunday, including 13 who tried to get food from near an aid site in central Gaza. The Israeli military said it was not aware of casualties near humanitarian aid distribution points in central Gaza.

Netanyahu’s security cabinet set to convene

An Israeli official said Netanyahu’s security cabinet will convene on Monday AEST to discuss the next stages of the planned offensive to seize Gaza City, which he has described as Hamas’ last bastion.

A full-scale offensive is not expected to start for weeks. Israel says it wants to evacuate the civilian population before moving more ground forces in.

Earlier, Red Cross head Mirjana Spoljaric said an evacuation from the city would provoke a massive population displacement that no other area in the enclave is equipped to absorb, with shortages of food, shelter and medical supplies.

Approximately half of the enclave’s population of over 2 million resides in Gaza City. Several thousand were estimated to have left the city for the central and southern areas of the enclave.

Israel’s military has warned its political leaders that the offensive is endangering hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza. Protests in Israel calling for an end to the war and the release of the hostages have intensified in the past few weeks.

The war escalated with a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. Twenty of the remaining 48 hostages are believed to still be alive.

Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 63,000 people, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, and it has plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis and left much of it in ruins.

Israel dismissed the findings as false and biased, saying the IPC had based its survey on partial data largely provided by Hamas, which did not take into account a recent influx of food.

The report was an “outright lie”, Netanyahu said.

“Israel does not have a policy of starvation,” he said in a statement. “Israel has a policy of preventing starvation. Since the beginning of the war, Israel has enabled 2 million tons of aid to enter the Gaza Strip, over one ton of aid per person.”