Israel strikes 450 Hamas targets…seizes one stronghold

On May 5, local time, residents are searching for casualties in the rubble of houses destroyed by airstrikes in Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, a Palestinian autonomous region. ⓒ Reuters/Yonhap News

The Israeli military, which is waging a full-scale ground war to expel the Palestinian armed terrorist group Hamas from the Gaza Strip, is reported to have captured one of Hamas’s strongholds.

According to The Times of Israel and other sources, the Israeli military announced on May 6, local time, that in the past 24 hours, air force fighters have hit 450 Hamas targets, including underground tunnels, military bases, observation posts, and anti-tank missile launch sites. In this process, the Israeli military claimed to have eliminated Jamal Musa, the commander of Hamas’s special operations unit.

In another battle, the Israeli military captured a Hamas stronghold that included observation posts, training camps, and underground tunnels, killing a number of Hamas members in the process.

The Gaza Strip Health Department also issued a statement that day, saying, “Over 200 martyrs have been reported from the overnight massacre,” and the death toll was “only counted in the northern region of the Gaza Strip, including Gaza City.” According to this, the total number of deaths in the Gaza Strip as a result of the war between Hamas and Israel has risen to 9,970.

The Israeli military had previously announced that it had completely surrounded Gaza City and divided the Gaza Strip into north and south. The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that the Israeli military is expected to enter Gaza City within 48 hours and engage in a full-scale urban warfare.

The Israeli military announced that it had opened civilian evacuation routes ahead of the full-scale urban warfare. Lieutenant Colonel Avichay Adraee, the Arabic spokesman for the Israeli military, announced on social media X (formerly Twitter) that the Salah al-Din highway heading south would be opened for four hours from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the evacuation of civilians in northern Gaza.