Hamas leader killed in air strike

A senior Hamas leader has been killed by an Israeli air strike on his home in the Gaza Strip, Hamas officials say. Nizar Rayyan, the most senior Hamas figure to be killed since 2004, had urged suicide attacks against Israel. News of the strike came on the sixth day of Israeli strikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. – From BBC News

Israel killed a senior Hamas leader in an air attack on his home on Thursday, striking its first deadly blow against the top ranks of the Islamist group in a Gaza offensive that has claimed more than 400 Palestinian lives. Nizar Rayyan, a cleric widely regarded as one of Hamas’s most hardline political leaders, had called for renewed suicide bombings inside Israel. Medical officials, confirming his death, said two of his four wives and seven of his children were killed in the bombing, in Jabalya refugee camp. – From Reuters