A Palestinian militant commander was killed in an Israeli retaliatory strike in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, in response to rocket barrages fired from the enclave.
The Gazan health ministry identified the man killed as Hamad Al-Khodori, 34. Hamas’s armed wing claimed him as one of its commanders.
He was the fifth Palestinian reported killed Sunday in Israeli strikes. A baby and her pregnant mother were among those killed on Saturday.
Israel’s military indicated he was killed in a targeted strike, accusing him of being responsible for money transfers from Iran to “terror organisations operating within the Gaza Strip”.
It alleged in a statement that Khodori “transferred large sums of money to Hamas’s military wing, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and additional terror organisations in the Gaza Strip through his money exchange company and with the help of money exchangers abroad”.
Israel had designated his company, Hamad Co. for Exchange/Al Wefaq Co. for Exchange, a terrorist organisation a year ago, it said.
Israel’s military carried out waves of retaliatory strikes in the Gaza Strip on Sunday after Palestinian rockets hit Israeli cities as a deadly escalation of violence showed no signs of slowing.
Three people were killed in rocket strikes on the Israeli city of Ashkelon. One was confirmed as Israeli, but police had not released the nationalities for the others.
The fighting began Saturday with massive rocket fire from the strip at Israel, prompting retaliatory strikes.
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© 2019 the Arab News (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia)
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