Hamas's head of government in Gaza killed in Israeli strikes
What's the story
Hamas has said that Essam al-Dalis, head of its Gaza government, has been killed in a series of Israeli airstrikes. The militant group said al-Dalis was one of the list of officials who lost their lives during the Israeli forces' aerial assault. "These leaders, along with their families, were martyred after being directly targeted by the Zionist occupation forces' aircraft," Hamas said in a statement, per AFP.
Additional casualties
Other Hamas officials reportedly killed in Israeli strikes
Apart from al-Dalis, Hamas stated that several other top officials were killed. These include head of the interior ministry Mahmud Abu Watfa, and director-general of the internal security service Bahjat Abu Sultan. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz ordered the strikes on Tuesday morning following "Hamas's repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from US Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators."
Casualties
Israeli airstrikes result in over 300 deaths
At the same time, Israel has also said it would close schools in the Gaza Strip over security concerns. So far, 404 Palestinians have been killed, including children, according to unverified figures from the Hamas-run health ministry. Before the strikes, Israel had blocked all food, medicine, fuel and other supplies for the past two weeks, demanding modifications to their ceasefire deal with Hamas.
Demands
What are Hamas's demands
Hamas has insisted on sticking to the original terms of the agreement, which was scheduled to commence its second phase at the beginning of the month. During that phase, Israel was expected to fully withdraw from Gaza and sign an agreement to permanently terminate the conflict in exchange for the release of the remaining living hostages. While Israel agreed to the accord, Netanyahu has long maintained that the war will not stop until Hamas's governing and military capabilities are destroyed.