Killed top Hamas commando who led assault on Israeli communities: IDF

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said it has killed a commander in Hamas's commando forces who led one of the attacks on southern Israel communities last week, The Times of Israel reported.

"Ali Qadi led the inhumane, barbaric October 7 massacre of civilians in Israel. We just eliminated him. All Hamas terrorists will meet the same fate," the IDF wrote on 'X'.

As per information provided from the IDF, Ali Qadi, a company commander in the so-called Nukhba unit, was killed in a drone strike following intelligence efforts by the Shin Bet security agency and Military Intelligence Directorate.

The IDF said Qadi was arrested by Israel in 2005 over the kidnapping and murder of Israeli civilians and had been released to the Gaza Strip as part of the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange.

In retaliatory strike against Hamas terror attacks in Israel, Israeli soldiers, their tanks and munitions have been deployed near the Gaza border as they prepare for a full ground offensive against Hamas.

In visuals coming in from the Gaza border, tanks can be seen firing shells towards the Gaza Strip. Moreover, soldiers are seen loading artillery shells into howitzers.

Adding to this, Israeli infantry troops have been moving closer to the Gaza border in anticipation of a full ground offensive on Hamas.

Meanwhile, Israel military's top spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari says the Israel Defense Forces is preparing for the next stages of the ongoing war with Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip and urges Palestinians in the north of the enclave to evacuate, saying Israel was going to "attack with great force."

"We are deployed and strongly prepared for the next stages of the war," Hagari said in a press conference, as per The Times of Israel.

"We are preparing the forces, going over plans, prepared in all arenas, south, north, and center," he says.

"We are focused on Gaza but are widely deployed [across the country] that allows us to operate simultaneously in all arenas," he says.

Hagari says hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians have evacuated from northern Gaza to the south, following warnings by the IDF that it will soon heavily target the area.

"There are still citizens who have not yet evacuated. Anyone who chooses not to evacuate puts himself and his family in danger. We will attack with great force in the areas that have been evacuated," he says, according to The Times of Israel.

Hagari says Hamas is under pressure and trying to prevent Palestinian civilians from evacuating, "because the organization's leaders are hiding beneath them."

However, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Israel to "reconsider" its warning, calling it "dangerous and deeply troubling," according to The New York Times.

Guterres in an opinion article in The New York Times emphasized that such demand for a mass evacuation on extremely short notice could have devastating humanitarian consequences.

The IDF has confirmed that over 120 civilians are being held captive in Gaza by the Hamas terrorist organization. Israeli Defence Forces on Saturday said 1300 people have lost their lives and over 3000 have been injured in the Hamas terror attacks on Israel.

The Israeli Air Force has said that the IDF continues the effort to move the residents of the Gaza Strip in order to protect them in the Gaza Strip. The IDF said a call was sent out to residents of Gaza using a variety of different means in an attempt to minimize the harm to non-combatants. IDF said Hamas terrorists are hiding in terror tunnels located under the houses in Gaza City and in civilian buildings.

The Israel Defence Forces said infantry forces and tanks entered the Gaza Strip on Friday in "localized raids" to clear the area of potential terrorists and locate missing citizens of Israel in a likely precursor to a full-scale incursion in response to Hamas's attack, The Times of Israel reported.