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| Israeli Strike in Gaza Hits Family of Hamas Military Commander | Israeli Strike in Gaza Hits Family of Hamas Military Commander |
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| JERUSALEM — A Hamas leader said early Wednesday that an Israeli airstrike had killed the wife and young child of the movement’s top military commander, Mohammed Deif, hours after Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip broke an agreed cease-fire with Israel and talks aimed at ending the six-week conflict collapsed in Cairo. | JERUSALEM — A Hamas leader said early Wednesday that an Israeli airstrike had killed the wife and young child of the movement’s top military commander, Mohammed Deif, hours after Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip broke an agreed cease-fire with Israel and talks aimed at ending the six-week conflict collapsed in Cairo. |
| Mousa Abu Marzook, a Cairo-based leader of Hamas, the Islamist movement that dominates Gaza, wrote on his Facebook page about 3 a.m. Wednesday that Mr. Deif’s wife and daughter, who Reuters said was 2 years old, were killed in an F-16 strike on a Gaza City home the night before. Another Hamas statement hours later, inviting people to join in the funeral, said the child was a boy. | |
| Mr. Deif, who is considered to be the designer of Hamas’s signature Qassam rockets and the leader of its armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, is a shadowy figure who has survived several Israeli assassination attempts with severe injuries. | |
| Witnesses said Tuesday night that the home that was struck belonged to the Dalo family but that part of it had been rented by an unrelated family for more than a year. It is common practice for senior militants in Hamas to move from apartment to apartment, often rented in others’ names, to avoid detection by Israeli intelligence services. | Witnesses said Tuesday night that the home that was struck belonged to the Dalo family but that part of it had been rented by an unrelated family for more than a year. It is common practice for senior militants in Hamas to move from apartment to apartment, often rented in others’ names, to avoid detection by Israeli intelligence services. |
| Mr. Abu Marzook called the attack “a new crime” in his Facebook post, as well as “a new intelligence blow,” perhaps referring to the fact that Mr. Deif was not hit. Israel has not killed many well-known Hamas military leaders during the air-and-ground assault on Gaza that it began on July 8; a more limited operation in November 2012 started with the assassination of Ahmed Jabari, who was officially Mr. Deif’s deputy but actually ran day-to-day operations of the Qassam Brigades because of Mr. Deif’s injuries. | Mr. Abu Marzook called the attack “a new crime” in his Facebook post, as well as “a new intelligence blow,” perhaps referring to the fact that Mr. Deif was not hit. Israel has not killed many well-known Hamas military leaders during the air-and-ground assault on Gaza that it began on July 8; a more limited operation in November 2012 started with the assassination of Ahmed Jabari, who was officially Mr. Deif’s deputy but actually ran day-to-day operations of the Qassam Brigades because of Mr. Deif’s injuries. |
| Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman for the Gaza-based Health Ministry, had originally said in a statement on his Facebook page that three people were killed in the strike on the Dalo family home, including a woman and child. But that post was later removed, and Mr. Qedra said in an interview Wednesday morning that only the woman and child were killed, declining to identify them. | Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman for the Gaza-based Health Ministry, had originally said in a statement on his Facebook page that three people were killed in the strike on the Dalo family home, including a woman and child. But that post was later removed, and Mr. Qedra said in an interview Wednesday morning that only the woman and child were killed, declining to identify them. |
| The Israeli strikes came after Gaza-based militants resumed rocket fire around 4 p.m. Tuesday after a nine-day break, prompting Israel to withdraw its delegation from Cairo, where talks toward a more durable truce have deadlocked. | The Israeli strikes came after Gaza-based militants resumed rocket fire around 4 p.m. Tuesday after a nine-day break, prompting Israel to withdraw its delegation from Cairo, where talks toward a more durable truce have deadlocked. |
| A barrage of more than 50 rockets continued past midnight, mostly targeting Israel’s southern cities, though a few reached Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where one fell in open ground, according to the Israeli military. | A barrage of more than 50 rockets continued past midnight, mostly targeting Israel’s southern cities, though a few reached Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where one fell in open ground, according to the Israeli military. |
| A fresh round of rockets, mainly aimed at Ashkelon and Ashdod, the two largest cities near Gaza, began Wednesday around 6 a.m. and escalated about two hours later. | A fresh round of rockets, mainly aimed at Ashkelon and Ashdod, the two largest cities near Gaza, began Wednesday around 6 a.m. and escalated about two hours later. |
| Israel, earlier, conducted 52 airstrikes in Gaza between the collapse of the cease-fire and 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, a military spokesman said. | Israel, earlier, conducted 52 airstrikes in Gaza between the collapse of the cease-fire and 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, a military spokesman said. |
| Mr. Qedra said Wednesday morning that one of those attacks killed seven people, including a pregnant woman, in the Al-Louh family home in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah. | Mr. Qedra said Wednesday morning that one of those attacks killed seven people, including a pregnant woman, in the Al-Louh family home in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah. |
| More than 2,000 Palestinians have been killed in the bloody battle, most of them civilians, according to the Health Ministry and human rights groups. On the Israeli side, 64 soldiers and three civilians, one of them a foreign farmworker, have been killed. | More than 2,000 Palestinians have been killed in the bloody battle, most of them civilians, according to the Health Ministry and human rights groups. On the Israeli side, 64 soldiers and three civilians, one of them a foreign farmworker, have been killed. |
| Egypt has been attempting to broker a cease-fire since the war’s first week. Those efforts intensified in recent days but apparently failed to make real progress. Hamas, and a broader Palestinian delegation including the moderate, secular Fatah Party of the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, had demanded the reopening of all border crossings, the removal of Israeli restrictions on trade, the building of a Gaza seaport and the revival of a defunct airport in the coastal territory. | Egypt has been attempting to broker a cease-fire since the war’s first week. Those efforts intensified in recent days but apparently failed to make real progress. Hamas, and a broader Palestinian delegation including the moderate, secular Fatah Party of the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, had demanded the reopening of all border crossings, the removal of Israeli restrictions on trade, the building of a Gaza seaport and the revival of a defunct airport in the coastal territory. |
| Israel had called for a demilitarization of Gaza under international supervision. | Israel had called for a demilitarization of Gaza under international supervision. |
| Some people briefed on the talks had said that negotiators agreed last week to set these broader goals aside for a month and focus an initial agreement on the reconstruction of Gaza, where thousands of homes, businesses and other properties have been destroyed. But the initial agreement never came. | Some people briefed on the talks had said that negotiators agreed last week to set these broader goals aside for a month and focus an initial agreement on the reconstruction of Gaza, where thousands of homes, businesses and other properties have been destroyed. But the initial agreement never came. |