The Israeli military said Friday evening it had eliminated the highest-ranking ISIS official in the Gaza Strip, Muhammad Abd al-Aziz Abu Zubaida, in a strike carried out in the past week in the Al-Bureij area of central Gaza.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, the strike was carried out using aerial assets under the direction of Southern Command and under guidance from the Military Intelligence Directorate.

Abu Zubaida served as the head of ISIS’s Palestine District and was responsible for policy, planning and implementation of the group’s operations in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula.

The military said the organization has actively engaged in combat against IDF forces and facilitated the transfer of weapons and terror funding from the West Bank into Gaza.

Also on Friday, the IDF said alerts were activated in open areas of the Gaza border region due to a false identification of a rocket launch. According to the military, an interceptor missile was launched and alerts were sounded according to standard policy.

Earlier in the day the military said it had stepped up armed operations around Gaza City, ending temporary pauses there that had allowed for aid deliveries as it pushed ahead with a plan to take full control of Gaza City.

“The local tactical pause in military activity will not apply to the area of Gaza City, which constitutes a dangerous combat zone,” the military said. The assault on Gaza City has gradually intensified over the past week as Israel has urged civilians to leave for the south of the Palestinian enclave.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said Friday that five people, including two children, had died from malnutrition and starvation over the previous 24 hours, bringing the total alleged number of deaths from such cases to 322 since the start of the war. Israeli fire across the besieged Palestinian enclave killed 48 people on Friday, local health authorities said.

Last week a global hunger monitor that works with the United Nations and major aid agencies said it had determined there was famine in Gaza. Israel has rejected the report as “fabricated” and based on manipulated data.

Two days after meeting UN World Food Programme executive director Cindy McCain in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office criticized her Friday for what it claimed were statements that contradicted what she said in their sit-down.

“Ms. McCain........

© The Times of Israel