by Yonah Jeremy Bob
"The strike targeted the terrorist Bilal Abu Assi, a Hamas Nukhba Platoon Commander who led the infiltration into Kibbutz Nir Oz on the brutal October 7th massacre," the IDF stated.
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The IDF on Wednesday afternoon admitted that it had likely mistakenly killed an undetermined number of Palestinian civilians in Gaza during a retaliatory strike against Hamas for wounding an Israeli soldier earlier in the day.
Early Wednesday morning, the IDF announced that Hamas had ambushed and wounded an IDF soldier near the Yellow Line in northern Gaza.
Although the IDF returned fire on the Hamas fighters who carried out the ambush, the military's statement did not clarify that the attackers had been killed, as is frequently mentioned in such statements.
The IDF said in its afternoon statement, "In response to the blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement overnight (Wednesday), during which terrorists opened fire at IDF troops in the northern Gaza Strip, and as a result, severely injured a reserve officer, the IDF struck a Hamas terrorist in the southern Gaza Strip earlier today."
IDF says strike targeted Hamas Nukhba commander Bilal Abu Assi
"The strike targeted the terrorist Bilal Abu Assi, a Hamas Nukhba Platoon Commander who led the infiltration into Kibbutz Nir Oz on the brutal October 7th massacre, during which dozens of civilians were abducted and murdered. The terrorist likely took part in holding deceased hostages captive throughout the war, and in addition, the terrorist led terror attacks against IDF troops throughout the war," the IDF added.
However, already in the morning, there were foreign and Palestinian reports of dozens of Palestinians having been killed in multiple strikes by Israel, both in northern and southern Gaza.
IDF says it took measures to mitigate harm to civilians, omits mention of proble
Responding to these reports on Wednesday afternoon, the IDF said it was "aware of the claim that several uninvolved civilians, including a medical staff member, were hit in the strike. Prior to and during the strike, steps were taken in order to mitigate harm to civilians as much as possible, including the use of surveillance and precise munitions. The IDF regrets any harm caused to uninvolved civilians."
Strangely, the statement said nothing about a probe into the attack, as such statements usually do.
Also, the statement seemed to only address one of multiple claimed attacks and it was not clear why the others attacks were not mentioned.
The IDF and Shin Bet concluded that they "will continue to operate against any attempts by the terror organizations in the Gaza Strip to execute terror attacks against IDF troops and Israeli civilians, whilst mitigating harm to uninvolved civilians."
While many countries and global critics have accused Israel of systematically violating the October 2025 ceasefire and killing over 550 Palestinians since then, including at least dozens of civilians or more, Israel has said that Hamas tries to violate the ceasefire by attacking or setting up attacks on Israel and the IDF on a daily basis.
If prior to October 7, Israel was conservative in responding to such attacks or preparations for such attacks if they did not target central Israel, following Hamas's invasion, the IDF is pushing for a forward-leaning posture against any potential threats near Israel's borders.
Yonah Jeremy Bob
Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-885606
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