Israel has killed a notorious Hamas militant who was previously jailed for life for taking part in the lynching of captured Israeli soldiers, it has emerged.
Abdel-Aziz Salha was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a tent inside Al-Aklouk School, which shelters displaced Palestinians, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip earlier on Thursday, medics said.
The ruthless Hamas fighter in 2000 slaughtered a pair of Israeli reservists who were captured at a Palestinian checkpoint and dragged to the West Bank city of Ramallah, torturing, choking and ultimately beating them to death.
He was arrested by Israeli forces a year later and sentenced to life in prison for his crimes. But he was one of thousands of detainees who were later released and deported to Gaza as part of prisoner exchanges.
News of his death came as IDF officials reported troops conducting ground operations in southern Lebanon killed some 60 Hezbollah fighters in the past 24 hours, while the air force said it had hit more than 200 targets as bitter fighting continues to rock the country.
One flurry of strikes reportedly targeted Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters and media offices in Beirut, the IDF claimed.
Hezbollah meanwhile said it had fired rockets on Tiberia, a city in northern Israel, and claimed it had fought off an advance by the Israeli army at Fatima's Gate - a checkpoint in southern Lebanon.
Hours before the death of Salha was confirmed by Palestinian sources, the IDF also reported that strikes in Gaza killed three leading members of Hamas, including the head of the group's government in the Strip.
The operation, which took place three months ago, wiped out Rawhi Mushtaha and two high-profile associates Sami Oudeh and Sameh al-Siraj while they were hiding in an underground compound, the IDF said.
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