Gaza Strip

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Militant group Hamas said on Tuesday (Oct 17) that one of its senior commanders of the armed wing was killed in an Israel air strike in the Gaza Strip. "Ayman Nofal, 'Abu Ahmad', a member of the general military council and commander of the central command in Al-Qassam Brigades, was killed" in an Israeli strike on the central Gaza Strip, Hamas said in a statement, referring to its military wing.

The Israeli military confirmed Nofal's killing and said that he was one of the most dominant figures in Hamas. An army statement described Nofal as the group's former head of military intelligence, who has been involved in manufacturing weapons and directing rockets fired at Israel.

Nofal among many Hamas commanders killed in war

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The army also said that Nofal was "involved in planning the abduction of Gilad Shalit", a soldier released in 2011 after being held for more than five years. Nofal is among the many Hamas commanders killed by Israeli forces since Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7.

A funeral was held for the now-deceased Hamas commander in the Bureji camp for Palestinian refugees in central Gaza.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli military also said that it killed another top Hamas militant -- Osama Mazini. However, Hamas has not commented on this yet. 

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More than 1,400 people have been killed in Israel and around 3,000 in Gaza since the conflict erupted on October 7, according to tolls by officials on both sides.

In the latest news from the intensifying conflict, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday called for broad international support in his country's war against Hamas. 

"The world must stand united behind Israel to defeat Hamas," Prime Minister Netanyahu said alongside visiting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

"The savagery that we witnessed perpetrated by the Hamas murderers coming out of Gaza were the worst crimes committed against Jews since the Holocaust," Netanyahu added.

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