Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corp, which Israel has been battering with increasing intensity, were inevitably a prime target as the guardians of a regime built on hatred of the West and after decades of violent subversion often enacted with the aid of that other enemy of the West: Russia.

Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi was appointed to lead the group after his predecessor, Gen. Hossein Salami, was killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Gaza civil defense spokesperson Mahmud Bassal, who gave a higher death toll of at least 47, told the AFP news agency: "Israeli drones fired at the citizens. Some minutes later, Israeli tanks fired several shells at the citizens,