JERUSALEM, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced Saturday that they had conducted "wide-scale" airstrikes overnight, killing dozens of Hamas operatives.
One of the dead was head of the Hamas Aerial System, the statement added.
The main target of the airstrikes were militants from the "Nukhba" arm of Hamas, which the IDF described as being one of the leading forces that led the infiltration into Israel last Saturday, said the statement.
Over the past day, the IDF also struck the operational headquarters of Hamas from which its aerial activity was managed, and killed Merad Abu Merad, the head of the Hamas Aerial System in Gaza City, it added.
The war between Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Israel began a week ago when Hamas launched a surprise offensive on the communities and cities on Israel's southern border.
Israeli media reported Saturday morning that in raids conducted by the army in the West Bank territories controlled by the Palestinian Authority, several senior Hamas leaders in the West Bank were arrested. The IDF has yet to confirm this report. ■
