Israel launched airstrikes on Gaza City late on Tuesday, targeting what it described as the newly appointed leader of Hamas's military wing, in a strike that killed at least three people and wounded more than 20 others. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz jointly identified the target as Mohammed Odeh, calling him "one of the architects" of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel. Netanyahu said Odeh had headed Hamas's intelligence division at the time of the attacks and was appointed approximately one week ago to lead the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades — Hamas's armed wing — following the killing of his predecessor, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, in an Israeli strike on May 15. Israel did not confirm whether Odeh was killed in the attack, and Hamas issued no immediate comment.
The strike hit the upper floor of a residential building in the Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City, according to local health officials, who said the victims included a woman. Bodies were taken to Shifa Hospital, and rescue workers remained on site searching for additional casualties. Sources close to Hamas declined to confirm Odeh's appointment as military commander but acknowledged he had been seen as a likely successor to al-Haddad, as head of Hamas's military intelligence and possibly the last surviving member of the armed wing's senior leadership council.
The attack took place on the eve of Eid al-Azha, one of Islam's most significant annual holidays, which this year passed quietly across Gaza, where the vast majority of the population remains displaced and living in tents or temporary shelters following more than two years of conflict. Iraq condemned the strike, joining a wider chorus of regional criticism. Hours before the Gaza attack, Israel also announced an expansion of its ground operations in Lebanon, signalling a broadening of its military activity across multiple fronts simultaneously.
The strikes come against a backdrop of a fragile ceasefire that took effect last October — a deal that left Israel in control of more than half of Gaza's territory, with Hamas retaining a narrow coastal strip. Despite the truce, Israeli strikes have killed more than 880 Palestinians since it came into force, according to Gaza health authorities, who do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Four Israeli soldiers have also been killed during this period. Israel maintains that its post-ceasefire operations are directed at preventing attacks and enforcing security lines within the territory.
Negotiations over the second phase of the ceasefire agreement — which would involve Hamas disarming, a full Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza, and the territory coming under a technocratic transitional administration — remain deadlocked. The conflict began when Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killed approximately 1,200 people and saw around 250 taken hostage. In the subsequent Israeli military campaign, Gaza's health authorities report more than 72,700 Palestinians have been killed, the majority civilians.