Senior Hamas leaders among 25 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes

An Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed three senior leaders of the Hamas military wing on Thursday, the group said, a day after an assassination attempt on a Hamas chief killed his wife and daughter instead and Egyptian-mediated peace talks in Cairo broke down.

The strike near Rafah, a town in the southern part of the coastal territory, was one of 20 the Israeli military said it carried out after midnight on Wednesday.

In a text message sent to media, Hamas said three of its senior military leaders — Mohammed Abu Shamaleh, Mohammed Barhoum and Raed al-Attar — were killed along with three others. Gaza police and medical officials said scores more people remained under the rubble of a four-story structure destroyed in the airstrike. Palestinian health official Ashraf al-Kidra put the number of those missing at the site in the dozens.

The three leaders are considered to be at the senior levels of Hamas' military and were involved in a number of high-profile attacks on Israeli targets. The Israeli military and Shin Bet, its security agency, issued a joint statement confirming the deaths. 

According to the statement, Abu Shamaleh was the top Hamas commander in southern Gaza, Attar was in charge of weapons smuggling into Gaza and the construction of attack tunnels and played a role in the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006 and Barhoum was a senior Hamas operative in Rafah.

Thousands marched in the funerals for the three leaders and mourned seven members of the Kallab and Younis families also killed in strikes on Rafah: Hasan Hussein Younis, 75; his wife, Amal Ibrahim Younis; Ahmad Nasser Kallab, 17; Nathira Kallab; Aisha Attiya; and children Abdullah Kallab and Youssef Kallab, Palestinian website Maan News reported.

Additional Israeli strikes on a Gaza City cemetery Thursday killed four Palestinians who were burying relatives killed overnight by Israeli airstrikes, Maan said. At least 25 Palestinians were killed since midnight.

The strikes followed the breakdown of peace talks in Egypt after more than a month of fighting between Israel and Hamas. The Gaza war has so far killed more than 2,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians. Israel has lost 67 people, all but three of them soldiers. Nearly half a million Gazans have been driven from their homes by the fighting in the enclave of 1.8 million.

Israel said rockets were fired from Gaza before the end of the most recent cease-fire, which Hamas denied. But after Israel began airstrikes on the coastal enclave late on Tuesday, armed groups in Gaza claimed rocket attacks on Israel as far north as Tel Aviv.

On Wednesday, Hamas' military chief, Mohammed Deif, was the object of an apparent assassination attempt that killed his wife and infant son. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday in a press conference in Tel Aviv that commanders of Palestinian armed groups are legitimate targets for Israeli attacks.

"No Hamas member is immune," Netanyahu said during questions. He said that the conflict was not over and that if armed groups in Gaza fire at Israel, "they will be hit back sevenfold."

Hamas is asking for an end to the seven-year blockade of Gaza, the reopening of the seaport and airport, the release of dozens of prisoners rearrested by Israel after being released in an earlier deal and the creation of safe passage between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The request about reopening the sea- and airports has been a sticking point for Israel, which it wants to discuss at a later time. 

The Gaza blockade has greatly limited the movement of Palestinians in and out of the territory, restricted the flow of goods into Gaza and blocked virtually all exports. Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas and other groups from getting weapons. Critics say the measures amount to collective punishment.

Israel has also requested the demilitarization and disarmament of the Gaza Strip and more Palestinian Authority control over the territory and its borders.

The most recent hostilities between Israel and Hamas began with a military crackdown on the group's members in the West Bank after three Israeli teenagers went missing in June and were later found dead. Israel initially blamed Hamas for the crime, an accusation the group denied.

Though Israel later admitted the suspects likely acted alone, hundreds of Hamas members were arrested and at least six Palestinians killed in military raids. Israel also began carrying out airstrikes on Gaza, which Hamas responded to with increased rocket and mortar fire.

Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdeir was abducted and burned alive days after the bodies of the Israeli teens were discovered. Three Israeli suspects who confessed to the crime said it was in retaliation for the killing of the Israeli boys.

At Abu Khdeir's funeral, his cousin Tariq Abu Khdeir — a U.S. citizen who was visiting Jerusalem with his family at the time — was savagely beaten by Israeli security forces, an act captured on video, before being arrested. Abu Khdeir later testified before Congress about his experience.

The U.S. State Department on Wednesday accused Israel of targeting members of the Abu Khdeir family after another cousin of the slain teenager was arrested by Israeli forces on July 28.

Deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf identified him as Muhammed Abu Khdeir — the same as his cousin.

"We can confirm that Muhammed Abu Khdeir, a U.S. citizen, was arrested on July 28. The U.S. consulate general in Jerusalem is providing consular assistance. A consular official visited him on August 14. The consulate is also in contact with Mr. Khdeir's family and his lawyer," Harf said.

"We are also concerned about the fact that members of the Khdeir family appeared to be singled out for arrest by the Israeli authorities," she added.

Al Jazeera and wire services