A senior member of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Barhum was killed on Sunday in a targeted strike, Palestinian media reported. Barhoum was responsible for the regional distribution of funds. According to the reports, he was killed when the IDF struck a Khan Younis hospital.
He was the fouth senior member of the terror group to be killed in targeted strikes in the past 24 hours.
At the same time, the IDF said it was preparing to advance a division of tanks to the border with Gaza as preparations to expand the offensive that began last week, were underway.
“Wadiya was responsible for deploying the battalion's forces against IDF troops and operated to restore and reorganize the battalion, the IDF said He was also involved in the anti-tank missile attack on a school bus in April 2011, in which a 16-year-old boy was murdered,” the IDF added.
Over the weekend, Defense Minister Israel Katz said he had ordered the IDF to seize additional territory in Gaza while evacuating the local population to the humanitarian areas and expanding security zones around Israeli border communities. "As long as Hamas continues to refuse to release the hostages, it will lose more and more land, which will be annexed to Israel," he declared.
The IDF Home Front Command eased restrictions in most Gaza border communities after the IDF’s limited operation in Gaza. Under the new guidelines, gatherings of up to 2,000 people are now permitted and educational activities can resume without limitations.
"So this is on Hamas. The United States stands with the state of Israel," Witkoff told Fox News. "Hamas had every opportunity to demilitarize, to accept the bridging proposal."