Israel kills Hamas head rocketman

Jerusalem Post:

IDF troops in the Gaza Strip on Saturday targeted Hamas operative Amir Mansi, a senior member of Izzadin Kassam, the group's military wing.

A senior commander of IDF operations in the Strip said that Mansi was the head of the Gaza Strip rocket division, and was Mansi was previously involved in dozens of rocket attacks against Israel in recent weeks.

He was also said to be a close associate of Hizbullah, and was known to receive information from the group on a regular basis, including learning how to fire rockets.

The IDF commander said the fact that Mansi was personally involved in attacking Israeli troops showed that the Hamas military wing was in a serious state of distress, as senior Hamas operatives would not ordinarily venture out into battlefields.

Mansi was killed whilst attempting to fire mortars at Givati troops at Jabal Rice, in the northern Gaza Strip.

The IDF officer also said that entire companies of Hamas had been completely wiped out, and some Hamas fighters had gone AWOL or fled battlefields.

"They are afraid to come out and fight, that's why Mansi went out to fire rockets on his own," the officer said.

The officer also said that Hamas had replicated nature reserves that the IDF found in southern Lebanon in 2006, with built-up urban areas in Gaza City. The group was said to have built up tunnel systems in such a manner that if the IDF deepened its operation into the city, it would encounter face-to-face and hand-to-hand resistance.

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This story suggest more stress on the Hamas death cult than their bosses in Damascus admit. It also suggest that the Hamas losses are beginning to effect Hamas's ability to operate. That usually means the losses are significant and debilitating. If this guy was leading a mortar attack it also suggest he did not have the rockets to use.