By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
GAZA CITY/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Tuesday that Hamas no longer exists as a military formation, shortly after Hamas-linked authorities said a massive Israeli strike killed dozens in southern Gaza.
“Hamas as a military formation no longer exists. Hamas is engaged in guerrilla warfare, and we are still fighting Hamas terrorists and pursuing Hamas leadership,” Gallant told journalists about the outcome of the nearly one-year war against Hamas.
His remarks followed an Israeli strike on Mawasi, a coastal tent encampment in southern Gaza that Israeli forces designated a humanitarian zone.
Hamas-backed officials said at least 40 people were killed and 60 injured in the attack as tents caught fire, but Israel disputed these figures.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they struck a Hamas command and control center hidden there and targeted “a number of senior” Hamas figures embedded within the humanitarian zone.
Israel’s military accused them of being “directly involved” in the October 7 assault on Israel that killed some 1,200 people, including babies, and of planning to carry out further attacks on Israelis.
Hamas called the IDF’s claims “a blatant lie” and accused Israel of trying to justify “these heinous crimes” without mentioning its massacre that triggered the war.
UN CONDEMNATION
A United Nations envoy was quick to condemn the Israeli “air strike on a humanitarian zone” in war-ravaged Gaza.
“I strongly condemn today’s deadly air strikes by Israel on a densely populated area in an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in Khan Younis where displaced people were sheltering,” added the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Tor Wennesland, in a statement.
Although Israel stresses it targeted a Hamas command center, Wennesland noted that international humanitarian law “must be upheld at all times.”
Wennesland also made clear that “civilians must never be used as human shields.”
Israel’s government has repeatedly accused Hamas of hiding weapons and fighters among civilians.
At least 41,020 people in Gaza have been killed during the Israel-Hamas war, including dozens over the last day, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Israel mentioned slightly lower figures and said nearly half of the victims were Hamas-related combatants.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
In a decision that could reshape federal identification standards, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Trump administration to enforce its policy requiring Americans to list their biological sex–male or female–on passports, rather than self-identified gender.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R–S.D.) told Republican senators Thursday to prepare for a critical Friday vote aimed at ending the nation’s longest-ever government shutdown — now in its sixth week — as lawmakers scramble to reach a deal amid growing economic strain and partisan stalemate.
The Senate on Thursday narrowly rejected a Democratic resolution that would have required President Donald Trump to seek congressional approval before taking military action against Venezuela, marking the second failed attempt in as many months to rein in the administration’s campaign targeting Venezuelan drug-trafficking vessels.
Kazakhstan has officially joined the Abraham Accords, becoming the first country to do so during U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term, the White House confirmed Thursday evening.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Thursday carried out a sweeping wave of airstrikes targeting Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force and its terror infrastructure across southern Lebanon, marking one of the largest military operations since the November 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested 1,505 criminal foreign nationals in the Houston area during a roughly 10-day operation ending Oct.31.
Growing outrage over Amsterdam’s Royal Concert Hall (Het Koninklijk Concertgebouw) decision to cancel a Hanukkah concert featuring Jewish-Israeli cantor Shai Abramson has prompted an open letter from the heirs of Holocaust survivor and musician Lex van Weren, urging sponsors to withdraw support until the venue reverses course.