The Israeli military said Friday evening it had eliminated the highest-ranking ISIS official in the Gaza Strip, Muhammad Abd al-Aziz Abu Zubaida, in a strike carried out in the past week in the Al-Bureij area of central Gaza.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, the strike was carried out using aerial assets under the direction of Southern Command and under guidance from the Military Intelligence Directorate.

Abu Zubaida served as the head of ISIS’s Palestine District and was responsible for policy, planning and implementation of the group’s operations in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula.

The military said the organization has actively engaged in combat against IDF forces and facilitated the transfer of weapons and terror funding from the West Bank into Gaza.

Also on Friday, the IDF said alerts were activated in open areas of the Gaza border region due to a false identification of a rocket launch. According to the military, an interceptor missile was launched and alerts were sounded according to standard policy.

Earlier in the day the military said it had stepped up armed operations around Gaza City, ending temporary pauses there that had allowed for aid deliveries as it pushed ahead with a plan to take full control of Gaza City.

“The local tactical pause in military activity will not apply to the area of Gaza City, which constitutes a dangerous combat zone,” the military said. The assault on Gaza City has gradually intensified over the past week as Israel has urged civilians to leave for the south of the Palestinian enclave.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said Friday that five people, including two children, had died from malnutrition and starvation over the previous 24 hours, bringing the total alleged number of deaths from such cases to 322 since the start of the war. Israeli fire across the besieged Palestinian enclave killed 48 people on Friday, local health authorities said.

Last week a global hunger monitor that works with the United Nations and major aid agencies said it had determined there was famine in Gaza. Israel has rejected the report as “fabricated” and based on manipulated data.

Two days after meeting UN World Food Programme executive director Cindy McCain in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office criticized her Friday for what it claimed were statements that contradicted what she said in their sit-down.

“Ms. McCain agreed that the aid looted by Hamas does not reach its intended humanitarian destination and that Hamas seizes the aid and sells it at exorbitant prices,” the PMO said.

“McCain said that during her recent visit to Gaza, she observed a dramatic improvement: food was available, prices had dropped and markets had sufficient goods at reasonable prices,” Netanyahu’s office continued. “It is unfortunate that since the meeting, Ms. McCain has issued statements that contradict what she said in Jerusalem during that meeting.”

The PMO did not specify which allegedly contradictory statements of McCain’s it was referring to. McCain did speak multiple times publicly about starvation in Gaza, but did not appear to directly point the finger at Israel.

US Senator Lindsey Graham was at the meeting, and said that it went very well.

“I met starving children receiving treatment for severe malnutrition – and I saw photos of when they were healthy. Today they are unrecognizable,” McCain said, according to the WFP.

“What we need is a ceasefire. My heart goes out to the mothers in Gaza, as well as to the mothers of the Israeli hostages, whose children are currently starving. Enough is enough,” McCain said during a visit to Ramallah. “We can quickly scale up humanitarian aid to reach the most vulnerable inside Gaza, support the return of all hostages, and lay the foundation for peace and stability.”

Netanyahu and McCain had released a joint statement after their meeting, calling it “constructive” and noting the recent increase in aid going into Gaza.

The World Health Organization said Friday it had run out of critical medical supplies in Gaza that it needs to treat a surge in cases of a rare paralysis-causing syndrome in the Palestinian enclave.

There have been 94 documented cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome in Gaza since June, resulting in 10 deaths, although GBS had rarely been seen in the enclave before the Israel-Hamas war began nearly two years ago, it said.

GBS is a rare condition that involves a person’s immune system attacking the peripheral nerves. Severe cases can result in near-total paralysis and breathing problems, the WHO said.

The fatalities include four children under 15 and six older patients with an average age of 25, the WHO said. Two of the victims had received no treatment, reflecting critical shortages in essential treatment supplies, it added.

The surge in GBS has primarily been driven by gastrointestinal and respiratory infections, closely linked to deteriorating water, sanitation and hygiene conditions, it said.

The IDF said Friday that it would continue supporting aid distribution efforts across the enclave — with the exception of Gaza City — while simultaneously carrying out “offensive operations against terror groups in Gaza to protect Israeli civilians.”

The military is gearing up for an offensive which aims to capture Gaza City, where an estimated one million Palestinians — or roughly half of the enclave’s population — are currently centered. The IDF has urged civilians to evacuate the city and move south.

Jerusalem is moving forward with the plan, despite broad international opposition — with the exception of the US — as well as anger at home among many citizens who feel the move poses unjustified risk to the remaining hostages, as well as to soldiers, and favor a comprehensive deal with the Hamas terror group to return the captives in exchange for an end to the war.

Also Friday, the IDF said in a statement that troops operating in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City had “identified a squad of terrorists who were hiding in a military structure about 100 meters (yards) from them.”

The Israeli troops “directed an Air Force aircraft to attack the structure and eliminated the terrorists,” the statement said, attaching video of the incident.

Additionally, an observation post aimed at IDF forces was struck, the military said, publishing footage of that attack as well. 

On Thursday night, the military said IDF troops operating in Zeitoun had discovered and destroyed a roughly one-kilometer-long (0.6 miles) Hamas tunnel equipped with living quarters and weapons.

The war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists invaded Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, of whom 48 are still held, 20-22 of whom are believed to be alive. 

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 62,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed over 22,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during and immediately following the October 7 onslaught.

Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.

Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 460.