Israeli fighter jets struck 150 "underground targets" in northern Gaza during an intense night of raids, the army said Saturday, three weeks after the deadliest attack in the country's history.
More than eight hours of night attacks on the besieged Palestinian territory into the early hours of Saturday rattled windows and shook the ground in Ashkelon 10 kilometres from the Gaza border.
Israeli military jets continued to fly overhead Saturday and regular concussive booms could be heard coming from Gaza.
Families of the estimated 230 hostages taken by Hamas demanded Israel government explanation of heightened strikes.
Tunnels
A statement by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said the sites hit included "terror tunnels, underground combat spaces and additional underground infrastructure. Furthermore, several Hamas terrorists were killed."
In a separate statement, the Israeli military said one raid had killed Hamas air attacks chief Asem Abu Rakaba, who it said played a key role in the October 7 attacks that set off the current war.
Overnight, IDF fighter jets struck Asem Abu Rakaba, the Head of Hamas' Aerial Array.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 28, 2023
Abu Rakaba was responsible for Hamas' UAVs, drones, paragliders, aerial detection and defense.
He took part in planning the October 7 massacre and commanded the terrorists who infiltrated…
According to the Israeli military, Abu Rakaba oversaw Hamas drones, paragliders, aerial detection and aerial defence.
"He directed the terrorists who infiltrated Israel on paragliders and was responsible for the drone attacks on IDF posts," said a statement.
Israel says 1,400 people, mainly civilians, were killed in the cross-border attack.
But the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip says more than 7,300 people, mainly of them civilians and many of them children, have been killed in Israel's raids since, also mostly civilians.
Blackout
Meanwhile, Hamas said all internet connections and communications across Gaza had been cut, and accused Israel of taking the measure "to perpetrate massacres with bloody retaliatory strikes from the air, land and sea".
The Palestinian Red Crescent said the communications outage had disrupted ambulance services.
"We have completely lost contact with the operations room in the Gaza Strip and all our teams operating there," it said on social media.
A concerning situation has emerged in Gaza as we've lost all contact with our teams on the ground.
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) October 27, 2023
The Israeli authorities have cut off landline, cellular, and internet communications, severely affecting our essential emergency medical services. #GazaUnderAttack pic.twitter.com/sKWOYNiQIe
Lynne Hastings, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, also stressed that "hospitals & humanitarian operations can't continue without communications".
(With newswires)
