The Israeli military on Thursday claimed the death of Rawhi Mushtaha, head of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that besides Mushtaha, Sameh al-Siraj, who held the security portfolio on Hamas’ political bureau and Hamas’ Labor Committee, and Sami Oudeh, Commander of Hamas’ General Security Mechanism were also eliminated in a joint IDF and ISA strike in Gaza, approximately three months ago.

IDF further said that Israel Air Force (IAF) fighter jets struck and eliminated the terrorists while they were hiding in a fortified and equipped underground compound in northern Gaza.

“The compound served as a Hamas command and control center and enabled senior operatives to remain inside of it for extended periods of time. The IDF will continue to pursue all of the terrorists responsible for the October 7 massacre and will operate against anyone who threatens the State of Israel,” the Israeli Army said in a post on X.

The IDF stated that Mushtaha, alongside Yahya Sinwar, established Hamas’s General Security Mechanism. According to reports, both served a prison sentence together in an Israeli jail and Mushtaha was considered to be the most senior figure in the Hamas political bureau in the Gaza Strip and, during the war, maintained civil control of the Hamas regime while simultaneously engaging in terrorist activity against Israel.

The reports further stated that Mushtaha was Sinwar’s right-hand man and one of his closest associates.

Mushtaha had been one of Hamas’s most senior operatives and was a key decision-maker in how the terror organisation deployed its fighters and assets, the Israeli military noted.

The Gazan terror organisation, according to the IDF, refrained from making an announcement of the killing of its three senior Hamas operatives in an airstrike by the Israeli Army around three months ago to prevent morale loss among its fighters.

According to Israel, the Hamas leader was involved in military decisions while also acting as the Head of Hamas Civil Governance in the Gaza Strip and holding the Prisoners Affairs Portfolio. It added that he also formerly held the finance portfolio.

The Israeli Defense Forces today announced that it started limited, localised and targeted ground raids against Hezbollah targets and infrastructure in southern Lebanon, amid ongoing hostilities between the Jewish nation and the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group.

Reports said that the Israeli troops had already entered Hezbollah tunnels near the nation’s border with Lebanon before the Israeli Defense Force made the ground invasion announcement on Tuesday morning.

The army stated that the targets were located in villages close to the Israel-Lebanon border and pose an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel.

Just a few hours before the IDF announcement, Israel warned residents in Dahieh, a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs, to evacuate. The warning was followed by a series of strikes in Beirut.

Notably, the IDF’s ground operation comes days after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut. Meanwhile, over 1,000 people have died in the past two weeks since the cross-border hostilities first started, while up to a million others are likely to have been displaced.

Reports said that special Israeli forces entered a network of subterranean warrens that Hezbollah members reportedly dug near the Blue Line separating Israel from Lebanon.

Issuing a statement on Tuesday, the Israeli military said in a tweet that the Air Force and IDF Artillery are supporting the ground forces and that Operation Northern Arrows will continue according to the situational assessment and in parallel to combat in Gaza and in other arenas.

The IDF announcement follows a day after Israel’s National Security Cabinet approved the next phase of its war with Hezbollah. Furthermore, Israel had also informed the US about a number of operations, including ground operations, in Lebanon.

In the last 24 hours, nearly 95 people were killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon, the Lebanese Health Ministry said, mentioning that 172 others were also injured in the same period.

Hassan Nasrallah, the chief of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation and one of its founders, was eliminated yesterday, together with Ali Karki, the Commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front, and additional Hezbollah commanders, the Israeli military claimed on Saturday, adding Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorise the world.

The communication with the 64-year-old Nasrallah was lost since Friday night, a source close to Hezbollah told news agency AFP.

In a social media post on X, IDF said, “Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorise the world.’ The announcement comes after Israel’s overnight airstrikes in Lebanon’s capital city of Beirut that it claims targetted Nasrallah and other Hezbollah commanders.

In a statement, Israel’s military said the fight against Hezbollah is not over after it announced the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the group, which has yet to confirm his death. 

Military Spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshan said that Hezbollah still has rockets and missiles and has the capability of shooting many of them simultaneously. He also added that the Iran-backed group was believed to have tens of thousands of rockets.

Israel is on high alert for a broader conflict after the elimination of Hezbollah leader Nasrallah in Beirut. “We hope this will change Hezbollah’s actions,” said Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani. 

 On Saturday, the Israeli military said in a statement that during Hassan Nastallah’s 32-year reign as the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, he was responsible for the murder of many Israeli civilians and soldiers, and the planning and execution of thousands of terrorist activities.

it further said that he was responsible for directing and executing terrorist attacks around the world in which civilians of various nationalities were murdered. The Israeli military added that Nasrallah was the central decision-maker and strategic leader of the organization.

“The Hezbollah terrorist organization, headed by Hassan Nasrallah, joined the Hamas terrorist organization in its war against the State of Israel on October 8th. Since then, Hezbollah has been continuing its ongoing and unprovoked attacks on the citizens of the State of Israel, dragging the State of Lebanon and the entire region into a wider escalation,” the statement further reads.