UN Chief: ‘Gaza Graveyard For Children’ As Israel Kills Hamas Commander

By Worthy News’ George Whitten and Stefan J. Bos

BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – The United Nations pressured Israel on Monday to observe a ceasefire after Israeli forces killed a key Hamas commander in air strikes on Gaza while also facing rockets fired from Lebanon.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Israel that Gaza is becoming a “graveyard for children.”

He said the case for a “humanitarian ceasefire” becomes “more urgent with every passing hour,” but Israel argued that it could give Hamas fighters time to escape and rearm.

In a joint statement earlier, U.N. agencies called the killings of civilians in both Gaza and Israel “horrific.

However, Israel countered that its air strikes on the Gaza Strip target Hamas fighters and their infrastructure and that it is minimizing civilian deaths.

Among those killed in the strikes was the “commander of Hamas’s Deir al-Balah Battalion” of the Central Camps Brigade, Wael Asefa, Israel’s military and security service Shin Bet said Monday.

He was one of the commanders who ordered the invasion “of Hamas terrorists” from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel on Saturday, October 7, said the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

MASS KILLINGS

The Hamas leader reportedly wanted more attacks on Israel after the mass killings of Jews last month in the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, also known as the Shoah.

The Israeli military said on Monday that besides killing him, it hit “450 Hamas targets in the past 24 hours, including anti-tank missile launch pads.”

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry claimed Monday that 10,022 people, including 4,104 children, have been killed in the territory since Israel’s campaign began.

However, the figures were complex to verify independently in a territory ruled by Hamas without full press freedom. It wasn’t clear how many Hamas fighters were among those killed.

Israel says it began bombing Gaza after Hamas killed some 1,400 people in Israel, including babies and toddlers, and kidnapped over 200 others.

Besides fighting in Gaza, Israel also tackled some 30 rocket launches from neighboring Lebanon, the IDF said. Hamas’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, said it was responsible for launching the missiles from Lebanon.

While there were no immediate reports of casualties, observers said it marked a significant development in the region, with some of the deepest rocket launches from the Lebanese border into Israel since the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war.

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