In search for senior Hamas operative, Israeli raid on Gaza City camp kills 3 children

Four people were killed in a Gaza City displacement camp Tuesday in a raid Israel’s defence minister said was to locate a senior Hamas official.

Israel Katz said the official was arrested following the raid, and an Israeli security official identified the man as the head of Hamas’s internal security service to Reuters.

Near the strike, people’s tents and belongings were burnt and ripped to pieces — remnants of a car were visible, mangled and blackened. Medics say three children were among the four dead during the military raid, which injured others and is at least the fifth in a series of attacks on the enclave in recent weeks that’s left many dead and injured.

“Have mercy on us. They’re children,” Abu Al Abd, a Palestinian living in the camp who had been getting water with his children at the time of the raid, told CBC freelance videographer Mohamed El Saife.

Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of “targeted strikes” because children were flying kites that landed in Israeli territory.

“What kind of life is this?” Al Abd said. He says he doesn’t care about the targets, he only cares about the children.

‘All the children were screaming’

In a statement posted to Telegram, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that Hamas had “recently advanced attacks” against their troops and Israeli civilians. 

“The terrorist was struck in order to remove that threat,” they wrote on Tuesday. They also noted that their troops would remain deployed in the area in order to “remove any threat.” 

“This is our policy: We do not wait for threats, but rather pursue Hamas terrorists, thwart them and destroy their terror infrastructure,” Katz told reporters Tuesday while visiting the Netiv HaAsara community in Israel.

Faiza al-Bahtini said her nephew was among the children killed on Tuesday. 

“They were scared, their bodies were shaking, all the children were screaming,” she said. “We, the adults, can’t handle it.” 

The 50-year-old said this wasn’t the first time her family has been caught in the middle of the fighting and lost loved ones as a result. 

Ceasefire nearly 1 year old

Al-Bahtini was displaced with her family from the north after an attack last year led to the death of her 14-year-old nephew. 

“Our homes were ruined, our lives were ruined and we have to move from one place to another.”

The Gaza Health Ministry notes that over 1,300 civilians have died since Oct. 11, when a U.S.-backed ceasefire took effect and halted the large-scale fighting that had devastated the enclave, but it has not ended Israeli strikes.

The military has said such operations are intended to prevent attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups. It says four Israeli soldiers have been killed in militant attacks since the ceasefire began.

In a statement posted to Telegram, Hamas called Tuesday’s attack a “serious crime” that constitutes a “deliberate disregard for civilian lives.” They also said this was an “extension of the brutal genocide” against Palestinians that has continued despite the ceasefire. 

The statement continued, saying that the attack reflected a “policy of defiance and arrogance” on Netanyahu’s part. Finally, they called on mediators and the international community to stop Israel’s ongoing violations of the agreement.