Third-in-rank Hamas leader killed in Israeli strike, US says
An Israeli strike killed Marwan Issa, the deputy leader of Hamas’ armed wing in Gaza who helped plan the October 7 attack, US officials said.
Israel and Hamas have not confirmed Issa’s death, but White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan announced he had been killed in an operation last week.
If the reports are confirmed, Issa would be the highest-ranking Hamas leader to have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war.
It comes as Israel prepares to broaden its offensive into the packed southern city of Rafah and a report has warned the fighting could drive over one million people into famine.
The latest findings came from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) found virtually everyone in Gaza is struggling to get enough food, and that around 677,000 people - nearly a third of the population of 2.3 million - are experiencing the highest level of catastrophic hunger.
That means they face extreme lack of food and critical levels of acute malnutrition.
Outright famine - driven by an acceleration in the death rate - is projected to occur in the north of the besieged enclave anytime between now and May, it said.
The report warned that if Israel targets Rafah, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to do, more than half of Gaza's population could face famine.
“This is the largest number of people facing imminent famine in the world today, and it has only taken five months to occur,” said Matthew Hollingworth, the acting World Food Program country director for the Palestinian territories.
The European Union’s top diplomat said the impending famine was “entirely manmade” as “starvation is used as a weapon of war.”
It comes as Israeli forces launch a raid on al-Shifa Hospital on Monday - the largest medical centre in Gaza - accusing Hamas militants of using it as a base.
The Israeli military says it has killed more than 50 militants in its ongoing raid at the biggest hospital in the Gaza Strip.
On Tuesday, it said that forces have arrested around 180 suspects. ITV News is unable to independently confirm whether those killed were combatants.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the chief military spokesman, earlier said that senior Hamas militants had regrouped and were directing attacks from the compound.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said the army attacked the hospital, directing gun and missile fire at a building used for specialized surgeries.
The army last raided al-Shifa Hospital in November after claiming that Hamas maintained an elaborate command centre within and beneath the facility.
The military revealed a tunnel leading to a bunker, as well as weapons it said were found inside the hospital, but the evidence fell short of the earlier claims, and critics accused the army of recklessly endangering the lives of civilians.
Increased calls for support aid efforts from UK ministers
Foreign Officer minister Andrew Mitchell told the Commons that he is “deeply concerned” about the growing risk of famine in Gaza and the longer term effects of the ongoing conflict and that Israel “must do more” to provide land routes for aid.
But the minister, who acts as a deputy for Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron in the Commons, was warned by shadow foreign secretary David Lammy that current levels of aid going into Gaza are “woefully inadequate” and also claimed that the famine is “man-made”.
Mr Lammy added that a planned Israeli offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah would risk “catastrophic humanitarian consequences” and called on the government to work to prevent a further attack.
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