Hamas confirms Israeli strike kills Rafah brigade commander

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Israel’s military and Shin Bet security agency earlier said in a joint statement that they had targeted a senior Hamas military commander in a drone strike after midnight on Saturday.

The Israeli military claimed Mr Abu Younis had been directing plans “to advance and carry out terror attacks.”

Two months earlier, his predecessor was also killed by an Israeli strike.

Today’s attack hit a tent sheltering displaced people and wounded two others.

Video footage posted by Palestinian journalists near the Nasser Medical Complex showed ambulances inside the grounds and stretchers that appeared to be stained with blood.

Al-Mawasi, a coastal strip, is crowded with displaced Palestinians living in tents.

Israel has repeatedly attacked the area despite previously designating it a humanitarian zone.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health said Israeli attacks had killed 16 people and injured 68 others over the past 48 hours, ignoring a so-called ceasefire.

The European Union has urged Israel to open all Gaza border crossings and grant “immediate, unimpeded access” for aid groups following devastating flooding this week.

Civilian infrastructure and medical facilities “must be protected,” said an EU statement released on Saturday.

It added that an Israeli air attack on Thursday at the Nasser Medical Complex, which killed at least six Palestinians, including a surgeon and left dozens wounded, was “deeply alarming.”

Damage to Gaza’s infrastructure has worsened floods from heavy rain, with more than 700km of the sewage network destroyed.

Heavy rain has directly affected at least 106,000 people, with thousands of tents submerged and latrines overflowing into camps, according to Unicef.

Violence continued elsewhere in the region amid the US-Israel war on Middle Eastern nations, with an airstrike on Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, wounding two women and two children.

Houthi spokesman Anees al-Asbahi blamed Saudi Arabia, which did not immediately comment.

Saudi spokesman Major General Turki al-Malki said air defences had intercepted two ballistic missiles fired toward Riyadh and shot down two drones over the Eastern Region.

In Iran, the Revolutionary Guard claimed it struck a radar system at a US helicopter base in Bahrain.

Bahrain said its air defences intercepted several Iranian projectiles and its Interior Ministry issued nationwide threat alerts for the first time since September.