Israel says it has arrested a senior Hamas commander in the Gaza Strip

Jerusalem.- Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that a high-ranking commander of the Islamist group Hamas was arrested this Tuesday in Gaza, after Israel bombed an area in the heart of the Gazan capital a dozen times, during what the Israeli press describes as an incursion into the area by pro-Israeli Palestinian militias.

«A high-ranking Hamas terrorist has been arrested and this is our policy: we do not wait for threats, but rather we pursue Hamas terrorists, neutralize them, and destroy their terrorist infrastructure,» said Katz during an event marking the start of the school year, the Ministry of Defense reported in a statement.

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Katz did not detail which forces detained that high-ranking commander; nor the name of the captive, nor in which area of the Gaza Strip the capture took place.

Bombings in Gaza City

His statements came after a woman and two children, aged 3 and 13, died this Tuesday in the city of Gaza due to Israel‘s bombings, according to Gazan hospital sources, which Israeli media describe as covering fire for a militia infiltration operation to capture a Hamas commander.

The Palestinian Islamist group has not reacted to this news nor confirmed the capture.

Katz defends Israeli military presence

Katz continued to argue that Israel has built a “security zone in Gaza,” in reference to the territory it occupies in the Palestinian Strip.

Almost 70% of the Gaza Strip is destroyed, with no residents, no (Hamas) tunnels, and no houses. The IDF (Israel Defense Forces, the Army) control the area,” he said.

The minister reiterated that Israel will not withdraw from Gaza until it is demilitarized, Hamas disarmed, and all its tunnels destroyed, adding that, even after that, the Army “will remain in Gaza in defensive lines.”

And he insisted on his message of equating the kites that have arrived in Israeli towns bordering Gaza in recent weeks, which Gazans attribute to refugee children’s toys, with weaponized drones.

“A balloon is treated like a kite, and a kite like a drone, with or without explosives,” stated Katz.