(ConservativeSense.com) – Israeli forces killed the third most senior Hamas commander, the White House has confirmed. National security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters in Washington that Israel is making progress against the Islamist group and that commander Marwan Issa died during an operation in mid-March. Sullivan added that Jewish state forces had driven high-ranking Hamas figures into hiding, with many of them taking cover in the notorious tunnel network underneath Gaza.
Marwan Issa was deputy to Mohammed Dief, the chief of Hamas’ military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades. An Israeli Defense Force (IDF) spokesperson said he was directly involved in planning the Hamas terror attack last October that killed more than 1,200 Israeli civilians. Mr. Issa was featured on the European Union’s most wanted terrorist list and was jailed in 1997 for his part in the Palestinian intifada that year; he was released in 2000.
Mr. Sullivan restated American commitment to Israel’s defense but added that President Biden has spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and cautioned him that the civilian death rate in Gaza is too high. Additionally, Sullivan described Israel’s intent to invade Rafah, a region in southern Gaza where senior Hamas figures are believed to be in hiding, as a “mistake.” Israel said Rafah is the last outpost for Hamas and it is determined to mount a ground invasion.
The White House spokesman told assembled journalists that America’s position is that Hamas must have no haven “in Rafah or anywhere else,”
but nevertheless, is urging restraint. Sullivan warned that more than a million people are taking refuge in the area and have nowhere else to go. He claimed that Israel had no plan for what to do with the civilians, including where they would go, where they would be housed, and how necessities such as food and drink would reach them.
During their conversation, President Biden asked Prime Minister Netanyahu to send a delegation to Washington to listen to American concerns and provide solutions.
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