Senior Hamas officials killed in airstrike on Gaza: Israeli military

JERUSALEM -- Israel's military announced on Thursday that Rawhi Mushtaha, head of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, was killed in a bombing in the Palestinian enclave about three months ago.

The military said that Mushtaha was the "right-hand man and one of the closest associates" of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader, and was considered the most senior figure in the Hamas political bureau.

Sameh al-Siraj, who held the security portfolio in Hamas's political bureau and Labor Committee, and Sami Oudeh, commander of Hamas's General Security Mechanism, were also killed, it said.

Israeli warplanes struck and killed the three while they were taking shelter in "a fortified and equipped underground compound in the northern Gaza Strip," it added.

Hamas has not confirmed the deaths of the three officials.

Israel has vowed to kill all persons involved in Hamas's attack on Israeli communities last October, which killed about 1,200 people. In the ensuing Israeli offensive in Gaza, Israeli forces killed more than 41,600 people, mainly civilians, according to figures from the Gazan Health Ministry.