Hamas commander killed in Israeli strike: Gaza officials

A Palestinian militant commander was killed in an Israeli retaliatory strike in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, Gazan officials said, 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.

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.

Khodori was the fifth Palestinian to be killed in continued Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Sunday, Gaza's Ministry of Health said, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed since the violence began on Friday to 16.

Palestinian armed groups announced they had targeted the Israeli cities of Beersheba and Ashkelon in retaliation.

Two Israelis were killed, and two others were wounded in Palestinian rocket strikes on the city of Ashkelon and the town of Sderot. One of the rockets hit a vehicle factory. Earlier, a 58-year-old Israeli man was killed in a Palestinian strike also on Ashkelon.

The New Arab’s correspondent in Gaza also reported that the Izzedin al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, used a guided missile to target an Israeli armoured vehicle - landing a direct hit.

Fighting broke out between Palestinian factions and Israel after four Palestinians were killed and two Israeli soldiers were wounded during a weekly demonstration at the Gaza-Israel border on Friday.

Seven Palestinians were also killed in Israeli rocket strikes on the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu vowed to increase strikes on “terror elements” in the Gaza Strip, amid reports that an Israeli ground invasion of the besieged Palestinian territory was imminent.

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