Photos | From the home of leader Tariq Ezz El-Din, who was killed this morning when his house was bombed by the Israeli occupation forces. Photography: Atiya Darwish

صور| من منزل القيادي طارق عز الدين، الذي ارتقى فجر اليوم جراء قصف الاحتلال لمنزله. تصوير: عطية درويش

Press coverage: "Dr. Jamal Khoswan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Al-Wafa Charitable Society, was martyred as a result of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip."

تغطية صحفية: "ارتقاء الدكتور جمال خصوان رئيس مجلس إدارة جمعية الوفاء الخيرية، جراء العدوان الإسرائيلي على قطاع غزة".

The two martyred children, Mayar and Ali Ezz El-Din, are the sons of the martyred leader, Tariq Ezz El-Din.

الطفلين الشهيدين ميار وعلي عزالدين أبناء الشهيد القائد طارق عزالدين.

The martyred child Ali Tariq Ezz El-Din, who was martyred as a result of the Zionist aggression on the Gaza Strip, at dawn today.

الشهيد الطفل علي طارق عز الدين الذي أستشهد جراء العدوان الصهيوني على قطاع غزة، فجر اليوم.

#Urgent | Several injuries reported following the bombing of a residential apartment in the Shuja'iyya neighborhood, east of Gaza City.

#عاجل | نقل عدة إصابات جراء قصف شقة سكنية في حي الشجاعية شرفي مدينة غزة.

Press coverage: "The aftermath of airstrikes carried out by the occupation forces on a house in the center of Gaza City, where a number of Palestinians were killed and others wounded." Photo: Bashar Taleb #GazaUnderAttack

تغطية صحفية: "آثار الغارات التي نفذها طيران الاحتلال على منزل وسط مدينة غزة، حيث ارتقى عدد من الفلسطينيين وأصيب عدد آخر". تصوير: بشار طالب #غزة_تحت_القصف

Press coverage: "The Ministry of Health in Gaza mourns Dr. Jamal Khuswan, who was martyred this morning along with his wife and son as a result of the brutal Zionist attack on Gaza City."

تغطية صحفية: "وزارة الصحة بغزة تنعى الدكتور جمال خصوان والذي ارتقى فجر اليوم برفقة زوجته ونجله جراء الاعتداء الصهيوني الغاشم على مدينة غزة".

Press coverage: "Police explosives engineering teams worked to neutralize and remove the unexploded (GBU 39) bomb left over from the Israeli bombing of the International Building in Gaza City, during the aggression on the sector at dawn today."

تغطية صحفية: "عمل أطقم هندسة المتفجرات بالشرطة في تحييد وإزالة القنبلة غير المنفجرة من نوع (GBU 39) من مخلفات القصف الإسرائيلي على عمارة الدولي بمدينة غزة، خلال العدوان على القطاع فجر اليوم".

The Quran memorization circles you consistently sponsored in the mosques of #Shuja'iyya will miss you, Dr. May God have mercy on you and grant you and your beloved Dr. Mirvat Paradise. What excellent doctors you both were! #Gaza_the_Proud

ستفتقدك حلقات تحفيظ القرآن التي تكفلها باستمرار في مساجد #الشجاعية يا دكتور رحمك الله وأسكنك والحبيبة د. ميرفت جنات النعيم ونعم الطبيب والطبيبة أنتم #غزة_العزة

Dr. Jamal Khuswan and his wife were martyred in the International Tower. He was a member of the administrative body in the Shuja'iyya area (Hamas) and the general manager of Al-Wafa Hospital.

استشهاد الدكتور جمال خصوان وزوجته في برج الدولى وعضو الهيئة الإدارية بمنطقة الشجاعية (حماس)، ومدير عام مستشفي الوفاء

Among the martyrs: Dr. Jamal Khuswan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Al-Wafa Rehabilitation Hospital and a member of the administrative body of Hamas in the Shuja'iyya neighborhood, who was martyred as a result of the bombing that targeted a residential apartment of the martyr Tariq Ezz El-Din.

من بين الشهداء: الدكتور جمال خصوان رئيس مجلس إدارة مستشفى الوفاء للتأهيل وهو عضو الهيئة الإدارية لحركة حماس بحي الشجاعية، حيث استشهد إثر القصف الذي طال شقة سكنية للشهيد طارق عزالدين.

Press coverage: "The beautiful Mayar... Her mother used to see her off to school every day, but today was the final farewell on an eternal journey with her father and brother, Ali." The child, Mayar Ezz El-Din, daughter of Commander Tariq Ezz El-Din

تغطية صحفية: "بهيّة الديار (ميار)..اعتادت والدتها على وداعها كل يوم لمدرستها، غير أن اليوم كان الوداع الأخير في رحلة أبدية مع والدها وشقيقها علي". الطفلة ميار عز الدين ابنة القائد طارق عز الدين

The child Mayar Tariq Ezz El-Din was killed in last night's attacks on Gaza.

استشهدت الطفلة ميار طارق عزالدين في اعتداءات الليلة الماضية على غزة

This particular house in Gaza Will have streets in Tel Aviv erased opposite it (The home of leader Tariq Ezzedine)

هذا المنزل بالتحديد في غزة ستُمحى مقابله شوارع في تل أبيب (منزل القيادي طارق عز الدين)

We have no strength left to mourn; we have exhausted all our reserves of sorrow. *The wife of the martyr Tariq Ezz El-Din and his eldest son, Muhammad, bid him farewell along with his two martyred children, Ali and Mayar. Glory to the martyrs. #GazaUnderAttack

لا طاقة لنا في الرثاء ،،، لقد استهلكنا مخزون الحزن كله كله .. *زوجة الشهيد طارق عزالدين ونجله البكر محمّد يودّعانه مع طفليه الشهيدين علي وميار المجد للشهداء #غزة_تحت_القصف

Dr. Khaswan's daughter, who lost her dad, mom & brother in an Israeli air strike, haunts me. Her hair was beautifully braided, probably by her mom, and they were just a normal family hours before. Now, she cries for her Mama & Papa, unaware they'll never return. #Gaza #جمال_خصوان

Dr. Khaswan's daughter, who lost her dad, mom & brother in an Israeli air strike, haunts me. Her hair was beautifully braided, probably by her mom, and they were just a normal family hours before. Now, she cries for her Mama & Papa, unaware they'll never return. #Gaza #جمال_خصوان

Our dear colleague, friend, and beloved Yusuf Jamal Khuswan has passed away as a martyr, killed in a cowardly and treacherous bombing. We bear witness, O Almighty, O Avenger, to his good character, kindness, and piety, and we consider him a martyr in the Gardens of Eternity and Bliss.

انتقل الى رحمة الله شهيداً زميلنا وصديقنا وعزيزنا يوسف جمال خصوان اثر قصف غاشم لا يخلو من الجُبن والغدر ، نشهد يا عزيز يا جبار يا منتقم حُسن خُلقه وطيبه وتقُاة قلبه ونحسبه شهيداً في جنات خُلدٍ ونعيم

From the funeral procession of Dr. Jamal Khoswan, his son and wife, who were killed in the same assassination that targeted the martyr Tariq Ezz El-Din in Gaza.

من تشييع الدكتور جمال خصوان ونجله وزوجته والذين ارتقوا إثر عملية الاغتيال التي طالت الشهيد طارق عزالدين في غزة.

Jamal Khuswan: The Humane Doctor, Martyred Along with His Wife and Son Gaza – Palestinian Information Center After a life filled with excellence, generosity, and humanitarian work, the martyred doctor, Jamal Khuswan, along with his wife and medical student son, were killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted their home in Gaza. Their deaths stand as a testament to the occupation's disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians. Sleeping peacefully with his family in their sixth-floor (roof) apartment in a residential building in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza, Dr. Jamal Khuswan (52 years old) was reduced to a blaze of flames and rubble when Israeli warplanes struck it with a guided missile early Tuesday morning. This attack coincided with a similar strike on another apartment on the fifth floor of the same building. A Tragic Departure Dr. Khuswan was martyred, along with his wife, Marwa Saleh Khuswan (44 years old), and their son, Youssef (19 years old), a second-year dental student. His two other sons, Yazan (16 years old) and Yamen (14 years old), miraculously survived, sustaining varying degrees of injury. From the rubble emerged the martyr's only child, Miral, crying out, "Baba, Baba!" in a scene that brought tears to the eyes of thousands of Palestinians. Why did the occupation forces bomb the home of Dr. Khuswan, who held Russian citizenship in addition to his original Palestinian citizenship? This question seems unanswerable. Although he was not involved in armed resistance, his targeting confirms the occupation's policy of not distinguishing between resistance fighters and civilians, contrary to its constant claims. Dr. Khuswan is a stark example of the occupation's disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, which documented the incident, noting that Israeli warplanes targeted Khuswan's apartment simultaneously with an attack on another apartment in the same building. What was the martyred doctor's crime? One citizen asks: Was Dr. Khuswan's only crime, from the occupation's perspective, that he chose to live in an apartment building in one of Gaza's most prestigious neighborhoods, and that his downstairs neighbor was Tariq Izz al-Din, a released prisoner deported from the West Bank to Gaza, who was also killed along with his two young sons, Ali (9 years old) and Mayar (7 years old)? As much as the pain that gripped Palestinians over the martyrdom of three leaders of the Al-Quds Brigades, their wives and children, and several of their neighbors, the pain was even greater over the martyrdom of the late doctor. He was the chairman of the board of the Al-Wafa Charitable Society, a non-governmental organization and member of the Palestinian NGO Network, and the chairman of the board of Al-Wafa Hospital. He was also one of the most prominent specialists in dental implants. Eulogies and Reflections Social media was filled with tributes to the martyr, recalling highlights of his life and his contributions to humanitarian work. The Palestinian Ministry of Health mourned the martyr, describing him as “a towering medical and national figure of high ambition, who dedicated himself to service throughout his academic and professional career. The medical field bears witness to his unwavering commitment to his humanitarian mission, and today he has fallen as a martyr.” Dr. Rami Abdo, head of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, said: “The grief that has overwhelmed the hearts of the people of Gaza today at the passing of Dr. Jamal Khoswan is beyond words.” He added: “Abu Yousef, his wife, and his son have departed. I don’t think there is a street or family that doesn’t have a story or tale of his kindness, generosity, and affection.” Inas Murtaja noted that the martyr, may God have mercy on him, was a kind, gentle, and generous man. You would only hear good words from him and only good deeds from him. The Humane Doctor The late martyr was born in the Shuja'iyya neighborhood on October 23, 1970. He previously served as the head of the Dental Association and graduated from a Russian dental university in the late 1990s. He was a prominent medical and national figure, a man of great ambition who made numerous contributions throughout his academic and professional career. The medical field bears witness to his unwavering dedication to his humanitarian mission. The martyr was a generous benefactor in the sector, known for his many acts of kindness and his constant service to the people.

جمال خصوان .. الطبيب الإنسان شهيدًا رفقة زوجته ونجله غزة – المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام بعد حياة مليئة بالتميز والعطاء والعمل الإنساني، رحل الشهيد الطبيب جمال خصوان، رفقة زوجته وابنه دارس الطب، شهداء في قصف صهيوني استهدف منزلهم بغزة، ليبقوا شاهدًا على استباحة الاحتلال دماء المدنيين الفلسطينيين. نائما آمنًا رفقة أفراد أسرته في شقتهم بالطابق السادس (الروف) من بناية سكنية في حي الرمال بغزة، كان الدكتور جمال خصوان (52 عامًا) عندما تحولت الشقة إلى كتلة لهب وركام بعدما قصفتها طائرات الاحتلال -فجر الثلاثاء- بصاروخ موجه بالتزامن مع قصف مماثل لشقة أخرى في الطابق الخامس من البناية. رحيل محزن رحل خصوان شهيدًا، مع زوجته مرفت صالح خصوان (44 عاماً)، وابنهما يوسف (19 عاماً) وهو طالب في السنة الثانية بكلية طب الأسنان، فيما نجا نجلاه يزن (16 عاما) ويامن (14 عاما) بأعجوبة ليصابا بجروح متفاوتة. ومن بين الأنقاض خرجت طفلة الشهيد الوحيدة ميرال، لتصرخ بابا بابا في مشهد أبكى آلاف الفلسطينيين. لماذا قصفت قوات الاحتلال منزل الطبيب خصوان، الذي يحمل الجنسية الروسية إلى جانب جنسيته الفلسطينية الأصلية؟. سؤال يبدو بلا إجابة، فعلى الرغم من أنه لم يكن من المنخرطين في المقاومة المسلحة، فإن استهدافه جاء ليؤكد نهج الاحتلال في عدم التمييز بين المقاومة والمدنيين بخلاف ما يزعم دومًا. فالطبيب خصوان، نموذج صارخ على استهتار الاحتلال بحياة المدنيين الفلسطينيين، وفق المركز الفلسطيني لحقوق الإنسان، الذي وثق ما حدث مشيرًا إلى أن الطيران الحربي الإسرائيلي استهدف شقة خصوان بالتزامن مع استهداف شقة سكنية لأحد المستهدفين في البناية نفسها. ما ذنب الطبيب الشهيد؟ يتساءل أحد المواطنين: هل ذنب الطبيب خصوان من منظور الاحتلال أنه اختار السكن في بناية سكنية في أحد أرقى أحياء غزة، وكان جاره في الطابق السفلي الأسير المحرر المبعد من الضفة الغربية إلى غزة طارق عز الدين، الذي استشهد هو الآخر رفقة نجليه الطفلين علي (9 سنوات)، وميار (7 سنوات). وبقدر الألم الذي غلف مشاعر الفلسطينيين على استشهاد 3 قيادات من سرايا القدس وزوجاتهم وأطفالهم وعدد من جيرانهم، كان الألم على استشهاد الطبيب الراحل فهو رئيس مجلس إدارة جمعية الوفاء الخيرية، وهي منظمة أهلية عضو في شبكة المنظمات الأهلية الفلسطينية، وهو رئيس مجلس إدارة مستشفى الوفاء، ومن أبرز الأطباء الأخصائيين في زراعة الأسنان. رثاء ومحطات مضيئة وحفلت صفحات التواصل الاجتماعي، برثاء الشهيد الراحل، واستذكار محطات مضيئة من سيرته وعطائه في العمل الإنسان. وزارة الصحة الفلسطينية نعت الشهيد، ووصفته بأنه “القامة الطبية والوطنية صاحب الهمة العالية، الذي قدم الكثير من محطات العطاء خلال مسيرته العلمية والعملية، والذي تشهد له ميادين العمل الطبي أنه لم يتوان في تقديم رسالته الإنسانية ، واليوم ترجل شهيداً”. الدكتور رامي عبده رئيس المرصد الأورومتوسطي لحقوق الإنسان، يقول: الحزن الذي غمر اليوم قلوب الناس في غزة على رحيل الدكتور جمال خصوان، أكبر من أن تخطه الكلمات. ‏وأضاف: رحل أبو يوسف وزوجته وابنه ولا أظن شارعاً أو عائلة إلا ولها معه قصة أو حكاية من حكايا الخير والعطاء والمودة. إيناس مرتجى، أشارت إلى أن الشهيد رحمه الله كان خلوقًا طيبًا ودودًا معطاءً سمحًا لطيفًا لا تسمع منه إلا طيب الحديث ولا تسمع عنه إلا طيب الأفعال. الطبيب الإنسان والشهيد الراحل، من مواليد حي الشجاعية في ٢٣ أكتوبر ١٩٧٠، شغل سابقا منصب نقيب أطباء الأسنان، وهو خريج كلية طب الأسنان من جامعة روسية في أواخر التسعينيات. وهو قامة طبية ووطنية، صاحب الهمة العالية قدم الكثير من محطات العطاء خلال مسيرته العلمية والعملية، وتشهد له ميادين العمل الطبي أنه لم يتوان عن تقديم رسالته الإنسانية. والشهيد من أصحاب الأيادي البيضاء في القطاع، وله مواقف إنسانية عديدة، كان يعمل على خدمة الناس في كل الأوقات.

There is no power nor strength except with God, the Most High, the Almighty. Names of the martyrs of dawn in Gaza: 1- Tariq Ibrahim Muhammad Ezz El-Din 2- Ali Tariq Ibrahim Ezz El-Din 3- Mayar Tariq Ibrahim Ezz El-Din 4- Youssef Jamal Saber Khuswan 5- Jamal Saber Muhammad Khuswan 6- Marwa Saleh Muhammad Khuswan 7- Khalil Salah Khaled Al-Bahtini 8- Hajar Khalil Salah Al-Bahtini 9- Layla Magdi Mustafa Al-Bahtini 10- Dania Alaa Atta Adas 11- Jihad Abdel-Hafez Ghanem 12- Wafaa Shadeed Al-Ghanem #ToGodWeBelongAndToHimWeShallReturn Uncle Abu Adnan

لا حول ولا قوه الا بالله العلي العظيم أسماء الشهداء الفجر في غزه 1 - طارق إبراهيم محمد عز الدين 2 - علي طارق إبراهيم عز الدين 3 - ميار طارق إبراهيم عز الدين 4 - يوسف جمال صابر خصوان 5 - جمال صابر محمد خصوان 6 - مرفت صالح محمد خصوان 7 - خليل صلاح خالد البهتيني 8 - هاجر خليل صلاح البهتيني 9- ليلي مجدي مصطفي البهتيني 10- دانيه علاء عطا عدس 11 - جهاد عبد الحافظ غنام 12 - وفاء شديد الغنام #انا_لله_وانا_اليه_راجعون عمو ابو عدنان

Harrowing images have been surfacing from the Gaza Strip since Israel’s offensive in the besieged enclave started on 9 May. Residential buildings have crumbled to the ground as Israeli shelling continued on, with families left in the streets.  Children have been some of the worst affected, with at least seven children amongst the 33 Palestinians killed.  In videos circulating online, children are shown weeping in fear as the sound of shelling continues above them, while others search through the rubble of their homes for loved ones and their possessions.  So far, over 500 residential units have been damaged, while civilians describe the fear of the ground shaking beneath them.   New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Here, we take a look at the children killed in the offensive* Mayar Tariq Ibrahim Ezz el-Din, aged 11 Mayar Tariq Ibrahim Ezz el-Din was killed on 9 May 2023 in Gaza City. She was 11 years old.  Mayar, and her brother Ali, are the children of Tareq Ibrahim Ezz el-Din, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) military commander. The family were sleeping when an Israeli fighter jet targeted the entire floor of their residential building in al-Remal neighbourhood in the centre of Gaza City. Fifteen Palestinians were killed in the attack, including three PIJ members, four children, and four women. Over 20 others were wounded, including three children and seven women, some of whom are in serious and critical condition, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Ali Tariq Ibrahim Ezz el-Din, aged nine Ali Tariq Ibrahim Ezz el-Din was killed with his sister Mayar on 9 May 2023 in Gaza City. He was nine years old. Ali, along with his sister, had bought sweets and prepared his clothes, excited for the next day, where he was joining a school trip before he was killed.  Online, social media users shared photos of the siblings during happy celebrations and mourned the loss of them.  The attack has left the family’s home completely destroyed, as well as the surrounding housing units.    Hajar Khalil Salah el-Bahtini, aged five Hajar Khalil Salah el-Bahtini, five, was killed on 9 May 2023 in Gaza City alongside her 44-year-old mother, Layla al-Bahtini. She is the daughter of Al-Quds Brigades commander Khalil al-Bahtini who was also killed in the raid that targeted their home. Many have shared photos of Hajar at school, and condemned Israel for targeting children in the attacks.  Eyewitnesses that have spoken to Middle East Eye have described a sense of fear among children, who are also showing signs of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Schools have also been shut as young children mourn their peers and many buildings have sustained heavy damage.    Layan Bilal Maddoukh, aged eight Layan Bilal Maddoukh, eight, was killed on 10 May 2023 in an Israeli raid that hit residential buildings in al-Sahaba Street in Gaza City. Tamim Mohamed Dawoud, aged four Tamim Mohamed Daoud, four, died of a panic attack as a result of an Israeli air strike on his neighbourhood in Gaza on 10 May 2023, his father told Middle East Eye. Iman Adas, aged 17  Iman was killed along with her older sister Dania, who was just days away from her wedding.  The sisters were killed in an air strike that targeted their neighbour’s home in the early hours of the morning.  The walls of their home turned into a mountain of rubble, with their belongings peeking through the shards of glass and stone.  Yazan Jawdat Elayyan, aged 16 Elayyan’s home was completely destroyed in an airstrike, where he sustained fatal injuries. Hundreds of people joined a funeral procession for the teenager, where they mourned his loss.  Witnesses told local news agencies that they were asleep when the deafening sound of air strikes struck, and Elayyan’s home came crumbling down.  “Me and my wife were sleeping when we heard the sound and the kids jumped up," one witness described to local media. "We looked outside to see the building covered in smoke and fully destroyed. Everything was shaking…there was no prior warning for people to leave." *Photo credits: Social media.

Mayar and Ali bought candies and food, prepared their clothes, and slept early on Monday night, looking forward to waking up the next day for a fun school trip in the Gaza Strip. Around five hours before the trip, an Israeli air strike hit their home, taking the lives of the two siblings and their father. A video circulating online shows the mother bidding farewell to the shrouded bodies of her children and husband lain on the ground. “May God have mercy upon you. My soul, my children,” she said, as her relatives try to pull her away and keep her from collapsing. Mayar, 11, and her brother Ali, eight, are the children of Tareq Ibrahim Ezz el-Din, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) military commander. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters The family was sleeping when an Israeli fighter jet targeted the entire floor of their residential building in al-Remal neighbourhood in the centre of Gaza City. Fifteen Palestinians were killed in the attack, including three PIJ members, four children, and four women. Over 20 others were wounded, including three children and seven women, some of whom are in serious and critical condition, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.  Ezz el-Din, 48, is originally from Jenin in the occupied West Bank and was a former prisoner who was released from Israeli prisons as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange in 2011, which included the release of 1,027 Palestinian detainees. Following his release, Ezz el-Din was banished to Gaza by the Israeli authorities. “The IDF has just announced the beginning of Operation Shield and Arrow,” the Israeli military tweeted around 80 minutes after carrying out the air strikes. A total of 40 fighter jets participated in bombing different locations in the besieged enclave just after 2am local time on Tuesday, according to the Israeli military. Cancelled school trip “In this sad morning that our steadfast Strip is witnessing, and with grieving hearts, the Pioneers and Leaders School bids farewell to two of its innocent students, who were martyred as a result of the Zionist violent bombing of the Gaza Strip,” Mayar and Ali’s school posted on Facebook. When they woke up, classmates who were to go on the same school trip as the siblings, were only told that it was cancelled, as their parents hesitated to tell them why. “Mayar was a good friend of my daughter Leen. She was an excellent student and Leen loved her very much,” Aya Abu Taqia, 35, told Middle East Eye. “A few days ago, Leen got sick at school, and she told me how affectionate Mayar was, staying with her and comforting her until we arrived to pick her up. “They were very excited about today’s trip. Yesterday, we bought candies and food because Leen, Mayar and their friends were planning to take a picnic blanket with them to sit on and share food. I had not seen them this excited before.” Before Abu Taqia went to bed, the first Israeli air strike took place. A few moments passed before she saw the news on the school’s group on WhatsApp. Cage, smother, subdue, repeat: Israel’s Gaza policy Read More » “Mayar’s teachers shared the news and they started mourning her and posting photos of her. I was terrified that Leen would learn the news by seeing those messages. I did not want her to know the news by accident, in the same way she learned about her father’s martyrdom,” she said. Leen’s father, Osama Abu Taqia, was killed 10 days after Israel’s May 2021 attack on Gaza, while he was trying to neutralise an unexploded Israeli ordnance at the Explosives Engineering Department in Gaza. Abu Taqia said this time she put away all mobiles and devices in her room, and waited until her daughter had woken up. “I then told her the news gradually, before telling her that someone she knew was martyred. ‘It is Mayar,’ I said, and she collapsed in tears,” she said.  The Israeli army says the air strikes were meant to target PIJ leaders who “have been threatening the security of Israelis for too long”. “Leen was in shock," Abu Taqia said. “It is not easy to explain the idea of death to an 11-year-old child.” On her page on Facebook, Mayar’s teacher Samah Jaafar shared a video of Mayar playing and dancing in school, describing her as "the princess of my class". ‘Your friend was martyred’ “I haven’t yet told Jamal that he was killed. I don’t have any idea how I’m going to tell him. His little heart cannot take all of this,” Yusra al-Aklouk, the mother of Ali's best friend and classmate, posted on Facebook. Aklouk agonised all morning over how to break the news to Jamal, who has already experienced heavy losses in his life. “He lost his father, grandfather, and uncle [in Israeli attacks in May 2021]. This is his fourth experience [of] losing people really close to him,” she told MEE. “I have not slept all night, I was scared that Jamal would wake up and check my phone, and find out what had happened or see a picture of his friend.” Ali had been Jamal's close friend since his father was killed, and a source of comfort and support. Aklouk said Ali and his father Tareq Ezz el-Din would regularly bring Jamal gifts to help him cope with his loss. 'This is his fourth experience losing people really close to him' - Yusra al-Aklouk When her son woke up, Aklouk decided to deliver the news in stages over a few hours, hoping to cushion the blow. “I told him that there was bombing in adjacent areas, then I said that the bombing affected the building where Ali lived. He asked me about Ali, I told him that I still did not know,” she said. Aklouk first told him that Ali was wounded, and then that his father was killed. “Then I told him that Ali himself was martyred,” she said. “He cried. But then he started reminding me of all the things I always say to him about meeting [loved ones] in heaven later.” Jamal, who was already dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following the loss of his father and grandfather, told his mother that he would only absorb the idea that he had lost his friend when he returns to school and does not seen him at his desk. This article is available in French on Middle East Eye French edition.

In a house in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City there hangs a poster paying tribute to “the martyrs,” as those who die in the conflict with Israel are typically called. The youngest members of the group are distributing the usual dates and coffee with cardamom to people who come to offer their condolences.On a poster showing the faces of Jamal Khaswan and his son Yousef, there are no emblems of Palestinian militias, and no photos of well-known Palestinian leaders such as Yasser Arafat, Ahmed Yasin or Mohammed Dahlan. Instead, there are only three logos: one from the city’s Al Wafa hospital — where the deceased had served as chairman of the board —, another one from a charitable association and a third from a nursing home.Khaswan’s relationship with Palestine’s armed groups came down to living in the apartment unit right above Tariq Ibrahim Ezzedin, one of three leaders of Palestinian Islamic Jihad against whose homes Israel’s military aviation launched a missile in a series of synchronized selective assassinations, triggering a new escalation of violence and five days of fighting that ended this past Saturday with a ceasefire after 33 deaths in Gaza and two in Israel.It was 2:00 a.m. when the ceiling collapsed on the bed in which Jamal and his wife, Mervat, were sleeping. Both died, as did their 20-year-old son Yousef, who was sleeping in an adjoining room. Another son, Yasem, who is five years younger, did not find out until the next day, at the hospital, that he had lost three members of his family. The youngest child, a nine-year-old girl, still believes that her parents and one of her brothers “are traveling,” explains Musa Saber Khaswan, Jamal’s brother. They are three of the 14 civilians whose lives were claimed by Israel’s Operation Shield and Arrow, defined this Sunday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “perfect” for having killed ”dozens of terrorists” — including six leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad — and doing so “with total surprise and continuing initiative.”“I was sleeping and suddenly things fell on my bed. It took me a few minutes to react,” Yasem, who a visible limp from the injuries caused by the falling debris, explains about the moment the missile hit the house. “We live in Gaza and we know that it is a dangerous place, but we never thought it could happen to us, because we know that my family is not a target for Israel,” he says with an absent look in his eyes.Jamal Khaswan, 53, was a respected figure in Gaza, says his brother Musa Saber, who is four years older. In the 1990s, he studied dentistry and earned a doctoral degree in Russia, and had dual nationality. He was part of the family business of dental prosthetics, which currently employs 10 people and has been run by Musa since his graduation from Tel Aviv University (back when studying in Israel was not a pipe dream for a resident of Gaza). All the children in the family have gone on to study dentistry at college.Musa had visited his brother, who also headed the Gaza Dental Association, shortly before the latter’s death. Two hours later, he received a call that the building had been bombed. “It’s a good neighborhood. No one had moved away, no one expected anything to happen. If everyone in Gaza who has a neighbor from Hamas or from Islamic Jihad had to get out, the Israelis would have to start building lots of apartments for us,” he says ironically in one of the rare moments in which his voice does not tremble. “The pain of losing a brother is impossible to explain, but beyond that, the question is: why did he have to die? And I would say the same if I were a Jew or a Christian. And another question, how long will it go on like this?”Three goalsThe gaping holes in the buildings attest to the accuracy of both the impact (the buildings are still standing and, generally, with a single burnt-out apartment) and of Israel’s intelligence information regarding the location of the targets. The missiles were launched at dawn against three bedrooms in three different houses where the leaders of Palestinian Islamic Jihad were resting with their wives and children. Of the 13 deaths caused by that first wave of selective assassinations, on May 9, there were 10 civilians. One of them was five-year-old Hajar, who had snuggled in with her parents in their bed. Her father was Jalil Bahitini, a top commander of the Islamic Jihad.Another daughter, 10-year-old Nada, has a black eye. That night, she was sleeping on the couch in the family home, just a few meters from the room where the projectile hit. At first, she says, she thought it was a dream. Then she saw a small fire. “I started screaming and realized that no one could hear me because I was under rubble,” she recalls, standing next to her sister Sara, 14. “I was expecting that something might happen to my father. At first, they told me that he had died, but that my mother and sister were only injured,” says Nada, before a lump in her throat prevents her from speaking further.“My father used to tell us: ‘I could die at any moment,’” says his son Abdelaziz, 17, who was sleeping on the top floor of the two that make up the family home. “Yes, we were worried about him, because we knew he was part of the resistance and because what he said was true. But we thought it could happen in the middle of the street, or in a training field. What I could not imagine is that they would also take my mother and my sister,” he says, standing under the funeral tent where the Islamic Jihad is honoring his father. A group of hooded armed militiamen, the Al-Quds Brigades, are posing while loudspeakers blast nationalist and religious music against the “Zionist enemy.”Considered a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and the European Union, the Islamic Jihad — which depends on Iran for weapons and financing — is not very large, but it is particularly combative and Islamist, which is evident in the staging of the tributes to their deceased commanders. There are only men inside the tents, and the dead wives do not typically appear on the posters. The images of their dead leader Tariq Ibrahim Ezzedin extol the warrior in fatigues with the Temple Mount in the background, rather than the father in civilian clothes standing next to his two deceased sons: Ali, eight, and Miar, 12.Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition

Current sectionIsrael NewsSo far, three children and four women were killed in the overnight Israeli airstrikes on the Palestinian enclave which killed three Islamic Jihad commanders. With 20 injured, some critically, the numbers could soon climbShare to FacebookShare to XArticle printing is available to subscribers onlyPrint in a simple, ad-free formatSubscribeComments: 7Zen reading is available to subscribers onlyAd-free and in a comfortable reading formatSubscribeIn the early hours of Tuesday morning, Israel launched an airstrike on the Gaza Strip, killing 13 Palestinians, including three senior Islamic Jihad officials.Only $1 for the first monthSubscribe now for on-the-ground reporting and analysisSUBSCRIBE NOWAlready signed up? Log inOrRegister to get up to 6 articles per monthClick the alert icon to follow topics:You Might Also LikeYou Might Also LikeSave Money Market / Say Goodbye to Long Hospital Queues with This £23 P/M Private Medical InsuranceUndoSave Money Market / Make Your Health a Priority With Affordable Private Medical Insurance From £23 P/MUndoCar Loan Claims / You Could Be Owed On Avg £700 For Each Mis-Sold Finance AgreementUndoNerve Research / Experts: A simple trick relieves years of nerve pain (try it tonight)UndoProton Mail / Why everyone is quitting Gmail?Undothecivicpost.com / Japanese Belt That Melts Belly Fat Leaves Experts SpeechlessUndoCommentsYour Perspective Belongs HereWant to reply? Subscribe to join the conversationEnter the commenter display name6Sam • 10.05.2023 | 06:55Yeah that little Hajar Bahtini, it’s a good thing Our Hero Yoav Gallant was “precise and successful” in killing her. What an awesome military feat by the most moral army in the world. She looks dangerous as hell. A real bloodthirsty ticking bomb Jew killer that one. So gallant of Gallant.5Jimmy NYC • 09.05.2023 | 19:21BDS - BDS - BDS - BDSTzezlJimmy NYC • 11.05.2023 | 08:58EXACTLY + ICJ4Some Guy • 09.05.2023 | 18:48The children looked happy and full of joy. Rest in peace little Ali , Miar and hajar.3Aurangzeb Iqbal • 09.05.2023 | 17:18When will the world eventually condemn and sanction this evil entity otherwise known as apartheid Israel?2dlb • 09.05.2023 | 16:59Perhaps we can look forward to Netanyahu's success with the courts and Israeli war criminals will be more easily prevented from traveling abroad even if they are never actually prosecuted. The current legal system does too little to protect the Arab minority within the green line let alone those Arab's unlucky enough to live under de facto Israel. Pulling the mask off Israel may be preferable to maintaining the current fiction.1Louis • 09.05.2023 | 16:36If I take Yoav Gallant at his word, and stipulate that the strike in Gaza was "precise and successful," then I have to assume that Ali and Miar Izzeldeen, mere children, were intentionally assassinated along with their father.Go Israel. You have a right to defend yourself against those five year old monsters.In the NewsEasyJet to Resume Israel Flights in March - but Only From Three DestinationsNext Mossad Chief Is Pre-approved by the Only Committee That Counts: The Netanyahu FamilyThe Real Deal: Netanyahu's Current Coalition Is an Obstacle to Trump's Gilded Gaza PlanOne State, Brought to You by the IDFDeath of anti-Hamas Militia Head Shows That Israel Can't Dictate Gaza's Next LeadershipRemembering and rebuilding two years laterICYMIAnalysisAnalysisThe Ultra-hawkish Right and anti-Zionist Left Have Drowned the American Jewish MajorityAnalysisAnalysisThe Visionary Palestinian Peace Plan for Israel and Gaza That You've Never Heard OfRaised in the Heart of the Settler Right, They're Determined to Revive Israel's LeftAnalysisAnalysisIsrael's Right Wing Bet the Country's Future on U.S. Christian Nationalists. It BackfiredHe Takes Killer Dogs, and Teaches Them to Love AgainWhy Did So Many Jews Vote for Mamdani?

Palestinians in Gaza say that Israel’s strikes against Islamic Jihad amount to a collective punishment aimed at making them fearful about who their neighbors might be.The aftermath of an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip.Credit...May 31, 2023As the Khoswan family slept, the Israeli military dropped three GBU-39 bombs into their sixth-floor apartment. One of the bombs exploded just outside the parents’ bedroom, leaving the apartment looking as if a tornado had swept through, killing three family members.But they were not the stated target of the attack earlier this month.The Israeli military had dropped the bombs into their home to assassinate a commander of the Palestinian armed group Islamic Jihad who lived in the apartment below.Jamal Khoswan, a dentist, Mirvat Khoswan, a pharmacist, and their son, a 19-year-old dental student, were killed in the strike as well as the Islamic Jihad commander who lived downstairs, Tareq Izzeldeen, and two of his children, a girl, 11, and a boy, 9.“Commanders have been targeted before,” Menna Khoswan, 16, said this month at a memorial service for her father at the hospital where he served as chairman of the board. “But to target the commander and those around him, honestly this is something we didn’t expect.”Israel says that it conducts “precision strikes” aimed at taking out armed groups’ commanders or operation sites, and that it does not target civilians. But the airstrikes are often conducted in heavily populated areas, and many Palestinians in Gaza say they amount to a collective punishment aimed at making them fearful about who their neighbors might be.Israel also destroys entire residential buildings or towers if it believes an armed group has an office or apartment there, although it usually issues an evacuation warning beforehand.Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.Raja Abdulrahim is a correspondent in Jerusalem focused on Palestinian affairs.A version of this article appears in print on June 1, 2023, Section A, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: The Civilian Anguish Behind Israel’s ‘Precision Strikes’. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | SubscribeRelated ContentAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT

The Electronic Intifada 2 June 2023 The Israeli military, police and armed civilians killed more than 50 Palestinians during May, which witnessed yet another deadly and destructive attack on Gaza. At least 33 Palestinians in Gaza were killed during five days of intense cross-boundary fire that began when Israel launched a surprise attack by assassinating three Islamic Jihad leaders in their homes. Several of the targeted resistance leaders’ family members and their neighbors – including several women and children – were also killed in those first strikes on Rafah and Gaza City. Israel targeted and killed three more Islamic Jihad leaders in the following days. The resistance faction responded by firing hundreds of rockets toward central and southern Israel. Initial reports suggest that at least three of the fatalities in Gaza during the five-day escalation were likely the result of rockets fired from the territory that fell short of Israel. The UN’s human rights office said that at least 13 civilians, including seven children, were killed during the Israeli offensive. Those killed include Dania Adas, a student of accounting who was planning to wed in July, and Iman, her 17-year-old sister. The sisters were killed in an airstrike using a US-sourced warplane that killed Islamic Jihad leader Khalil al-Bahtini, along with his wife Laila and their 4-year-old daughter Hajar. Jamal Khaswan, a Russian national and dentist who chaired the board of al-Wafaa Hospital, was killed in a strike targeting Islamic Jihad leader Tariq Izzedine. Khaswan died along with his wife Mervat and 19-year-old son Youssef when the ceiling of their home collapsed as they slept. Izzedine was killed along with his children Ali, 8, and Mayar, 12. Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza meanwhile killed an 80-year-old Israeli woman and a Palestinian laborer from Gaza who was working in the southern Naqab region before an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire brought the escalation to an end on 13 May. It was the second ceasefire reached in May; resistance factions in Gaza fired rockets towards Israel following the death of Khader Adnan after a lengthy hunger strike in Israeli detention on 2 May. Israel continues to withhold Adnan’s body, along with those of at least 132 other Palestinians, some since 2016, according to the UN. One Palestinian civilian in Gaza was killed as a result of Israeli bombing in response to the rocket fire. After the day-long exchange of fire on 3 May, members of Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s extreme-right Jewish Power party boycotted parliament in protest, insisting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should have meted out a more hardline response in Gaza. Rather than acts of military necessity, the assassinations of Islamic Jihad leaders were likely a capitulation by Netanyahu to Ben-Gvir’s demands in order to preserve his fragile ruling coalition, despite Israel risking a regional spillover of armed hostilities by doing so. “Pressure cooker” executions While a regional escalation was averted, Israel’s routine killing with impunity carried on in the West Bank during May. On 1 May, Israeli troops shot 17-year-old Jibril Muhammad Said Kamal in the head during a raid in Aqbat Jabr refugee camp near the West Bank city of Jericho, killing him. Israeli troops killed three Palestinians – Muath Masri, Ibrahim Jabr and Hasan Qatnani – belonging to the armed wing of Hamas during a raid in Nablus on 4 May. Israel appears to have used the “pressure cooker” procedure during the raid, a form of extrajudicial execution by which occupation forces fire progressively more powerful weapons at a targeted building in an effort to force those inside to surrender. Israel claimed that two of the slain men carried out a shooting attack in the Jordan Valley three weeks earlier that resulted in the deaths of an Israeli-British settler and two of her daughters. Also on 4 May, Iman Ziyad Odeh, 26, was shot and killed by Israeli troops during an alleged stabbing attack in Huwwara, a town south of Nablus. Her death may also constitute an extrajudicial execution. B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, has said that Netanyahu is responsible for “the transformation of police officers, and even of armed civilians, into judges and executioners” who shoot and kill Palestinians in the streets. That deadly vigilantism, spurred by racist incitement by Israel’s top leaders, all but certainly factored into the shooting death of Diyar Omari, a 19-year-old Palestinian citizen of Israel, on 6 May. Israel claims that Omari was killed in the north of the country during a road rage dispute. But video of the deadly encounter shows Omari being attacked by an Israeli man identified as Denis Mukin, who is seen removing the teen from his vehicle and then opening fire at him as Omari attempts to get back into his car. Later in the month, Israeli police raided Sandala, where Omari lived. The raid was intended to intimidate people accused of protesting against the young man’s killing, Adalah, a group that advocates for the rights of Palestinians in Israel, suggested. Police violently searched several homes and arrested 13 Palestinians during the “quasi-military” operation in Sandala, Adalah added. Left to bleed Also on 6 May, Samer al-Shafei and Hamza Khayroush, both 22, were killed in a military raid in the West Bank city of Tulkarm. Israel claimed that the two men had carried out a shooting attack at a nearby settlement earlier in the week, injuring a civilian. Graphic video shows al-Shafei and Khayroush laying on a tin roof, apparently lifeless, as Israeli troops search them, turning one of their bodies over with his foot. The video does not show the troops attempting to provide first aid. Eyewitnesses told Palestinian media that the soldiers left the men to bleed and fired at them at close range to ensure they were dead. The Tulkarm raid appears to be yet another extrajudicial execution operation in which the intent was to kill rather than apprehend the wanted men, despite capital punishment being banned by Israel. On 10 May, amid Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, troops killed two Palestinians – Ahmad Jamal Assaf, 19, and Rami Walid Qatanat, 25 – in Qabatiya, a town near the northern West Bank city of Jenin. The Israeli army said the pair opened fire from a car before they were killed. A third man – Aws Jamal Hamamdeh Kmeil, 30 – was also shot and died from his injuries the following day. Also on 11 May, Ghazi Yusif Mustafa Shihab, 66, died after he was shot in the stomach by Israeli troops during a raid on Nur Shams refugee camp in the West Bank city of Tulkarm. Israeli troops killed two Palestinians in the West Bank city of Nablus on 13 May. Israeli undercover forces invaded Balata refugee camp in the northern West Bank city and besieged the home of a wanted Palestinian, firing several rocket-propelled grenades at the two-story building, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. The rights group said that during the daytime raid, Saed Jihad Misheh, a 32-year-old merchant, was attempting to reach his workplace when he was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper, killing him. While Wasim Adnan al-Araj, 19, was attempting to evacuate Misheh, he too was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper and killed, his body falling on top of that of the other slain man. That same day, 33-year-old Ahmad Muhammad Atatreh was shot and killed by Israel’s paramilitary Border Police at a checkpoint in the northern West Bank. Israel’s Border Police claimed that Atatreh ran towards Checkpoint 300 near the settlement of Shaked while brandishing a knife. No Israelis were hurt in the incident, as is frequently the case in supposed attacks resulting in a Palestinian fatality. The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said that Atatreh was shot while riding his bicycle near the checkpoint and that soldiers left him to bleed to death on the ground, preventing Palestinian paramedics and bystanders from coming to his aid. On 15 May, Saleh Muhammad Saleh Sabri, 22, was shot in the chest during an Israeli raid in Askar refugee camp near Nablus. Israeli troops raided the home of Abdulfattah Khrousheh, who was killed during a raid in Jenin during March, in order to prepare for its demolition. Killed without warning Israeli forces killed three Palestinians during a raid in Balata refugee camp on 22 May. Muhammad Bilal Zaytoun, a 31-year-old cleaner with the Nablus municipality, was shot without warning when he stepped out of a vehicle upon returning home from work and was left to bleed on the street. He died as a result of his injuries. Resistance activists became aware of the presence of Israeli troops in the camp following Zaytoun’s shooting and two fighters – Fathi Jihad Rizq, 30, and Abdullah Yousef Abu Hamdan, 24 – died in an ensuing exchange of fire. On 26 May, Alaa Khalil Qaisiya, 28, was shot and killed by a setter after allegedly attempting a stabbing at a synagogue in Teneh Omarim, a settlement south of the West Bank city of Hebron. A 38-year-old Palestinian intelligence officer died after being shot with two expanding bullets that injured his liver and lung during an Israeli raid in Jenin on 29 May. The death of the officer – Ashraf Muhammad Amin Ibrahim – brings to at least 155 the total number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli military, police and armed civilians so far this year. Two dozen people in Israel and Israelis in the West Bank were killed by Palestinians in the context of the occupation during the same period, or died from injuries sustained previously, including the two people killed by rocket fire from Gaza in May. An Israeli settler was shot and killed while driving near Hemesh settlement in the area of Jenin in the northern West Bank on 30 May. The Fatah-linked al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack. The following day, Chana Nachenberg, 52, died in a Tel Aviv hospital from injuries sustained during the 2001 bombing of Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem. Fifteen others, including seven children, were killed during the attack, in addition to the Palestinian bomber. The New York-born Nachenberg, whose 3-year-old daughter survived the attack without physical injuries, never regained consciousness after the bombing. Meanwhile, Rami Ezzat Bakr, a 45-year-old Palestinian fisher, was killed after his vessel was allegedly struck by an Egyptian gunboat during May. Another Palestinian fisher survived the assault. Six Palestinian fishers have been killed by the Egyptian military in recent years, according to the Palestinian Fishermen’s Syndicate. Also during May, the Palestinian herding community of Ein Samiya near Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, was forced to evacuate following increased settler attacks and after years of Israeli demolitions of homes and the community’s only school. Israeli settlers also attacked and set fire to several structures in Burqa village near Nablus following the visit of a European-led delegation of diplomats. Burqa has endured years of attacks by settlers from Homesh, a nearby outpost built on land owned by Palestinians from the village. Facebook Twitter Donate Now

On May 9th, 2023, the IDF launched Operation “Shield and Arrow” in a targeted operation against the Islamic Jihad terror organization in the Gaza Strip. The IDF targeted three senior Islamic Jihad commanders responsible for launching rockets toward Israel over the last month and planning further terror attacks against Israel. The IDF also struck Islamic Jihad terrorist infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, including weapons manufacturing sites and military compounds. The strikes were carried out with pinpoint accuracy based on real-time intelligence, while making efforts to avoid harming uninvolved civilians as much as possible.  All three senior Islamic Jihad members targeted in the operation were heavily involved in the terrorist attempts of the Islamic Jihad to harm IDF soldiers and uninvolved Israeli civilians, both from Gaza and in Judea and Samaria. Most notably, over 100 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip toward Israel on May 2nd, 2023, targeting Israeli communities and leading to the injuries of several civilians. Khalil Bahitini:  Khalil Bahtini (44, lived in Gaza City) started his activity in the Islamic Jihad in the late 1990s and throughout the years was involved in many terrorist acts against Israel, including suicide bombings, explosive attacks, rocket fire and directing terrorist activities in Judea and Samaria. After the elimination of Tayseer Jabri during Operation “Breaking Dawn” in August 2022, Bahitini took over his position as the senior operational officer of Islamic Jihad and the commander of the Northern Gaza Division. Bahitini was a member of the terrorist organization’s military council and had direct and active contact with senior members of the Islamic Jihads’ Political Bureau. Bahitini was entrusted with approving and carrying out all terrorist activities from northern Gaza as well as, planning and directing terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians and planned shooting attacks against Israel in the immediate future, he was also responsible for the rocket fire toward Israel in the past month. Tarek Az Aldin: Az Aldin (49, originally from A’arbe in Samaria) was the director of Islamic Jihad operations in Judea and Samaria from Gaza. Recently, he was entrusted with planning and directing multiple attacks against Israeli civilians, the coordination between the Islamic Jihad in Judea and Samaria as well as transferring funds for terrorism from Gaza to Judea and Samaria. Az Aldin was also responsible for disturbing inciting content of the terrorist organization in Israel meant to promote and encourage terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians. Jahed Ahnam: Jahed Ahnam (62, lived in Rafiah), was one of the most senior members of the Islamic Jihad, previously served in key positions in the terrorist organization including the Commanding Officer of the Islamic Jihads’ Southern Gaza Brigade and Secretary of the Military Council. In his last position, he was entrusted with coordinating weapons and money transfers between the Hamas terrorist organization and the Islamic Jihad. Ahnam operated in promoting terrorism in Gaza, Judea and Samaria and around the world. As part of the IDF’s security situational assessment, the Home Front Command is instructing civilians in the area surrounding Gaza need to remain in the vicinity of a designated shelter.  Special instructions on the Israeli Home Front within 40 km of Gaza have been posted on the National Emergency Portal. (https://www.oref.org.il/en) The IDF will continue to operate against the threat of terrorism and maintain security for the civilians in the State of Israel.