The Israeli army announced today, Sunday, the death of Izmi Abu Daqa, whom it described as a "prominent member" of the supply department of the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army stated in a statement that Abu Daqa was killed in an airstrike carried out yesterday, Saturday, under the direction of military intelligence and the southern command. According to the statement, Abu Daqa was working on smuggling weapons and funds allocated for Hamas in Gaza.
The statement added that Israeli warplanes attacked "dozens of targets" in Gaza over the last 24 hours and killed field leaders in Hamas who were preparing to target Israeli forces in the Rafah area, according to the statement. Earlier today, the Israeli army announced the death of two of its soldiers, Sergeants Nahman Meir Chaim Vaknin and Noam Batan, in a blast caused by an explosive device placed at the entrance to a tunnel east of Rafah, raising the death toll from the ground operation to 277 soldiers. The army also reported that four soldiers were seriously injured in the Gaza battles.
