A man and girl were killed Sunday in an Israeli strike west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Palestinian media reported, as the IDF said strikes last week had killed three Hamas operatives and an Islamic Jihad commander involved in the abduction of 12-year-old Yagil Yaakov on October 7, 2023.

Khan Younis’s Nasser Hospital reportedly received several people wounded in the IDF strike on Mawasi, as well as the bodies of Akram Abu Madi, 31, and Julia al-Balaawi, who was reported to be between 8 and 11 years old. The IDF did not comment on the reports.

Meanwhile, the IDF and Shin Bet said Sunday that a strike in southern Gaza on Friday had killed Zaki Youssef Mahmoud Abu Mustafa, the elite forces commander of Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Khan Younis Brigade, who the military said helped rebuild PIJ in violation of the Gaza ceasefire.

In the October 7 onslaught that sparked the Gaza war, Abu Mustafa raided Kibbutz Nir Oz — one of the hardest-hit border communities — and took part in the abduction of Yaakov, who was released as part of the week-long November 2023 truce, the IDF and Shin Bet said. The military published a photo showing Abu Mustafa and several other terrorists during the abduction.

“In recent months, Abu Mustafa played a significant role in rebuilding the terrorist organization’s military capabilities in the Gaza Strip, in violation of the ceasefire agreement,” the IDF said.

Abu Mustafa had also advanced attacks on troops and “attempted to conduct training for terrorists at Nasser Hospital, while exploiting the hospital to advance terrorist activity,” according to the military.

“Due to his recent activities and the immediate threat he posed to IDF troops, Abu Mustafa was eliminated in a precise strike,” the military said.

It added that a separate strike........

© The Times of Israel