Hamas on Wednesday confirmed that an Israeli strike in Gaza City the night before killed the head of its military wing, the al-Qassams Brigades, as the IDF continues daily attacks in violation of the US-backed ceasefire deal.
Hamas said Mohammed Odeh was killed alongside his wife and two sons by an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in Gaza City, just 11 days after Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the former al-Qassams chief, was killed in a similar attack.
A source at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City told Al Jazeera that the Israeli strike targeting Odeh killed a total of six Palestinians, bringing the death toll in Israeli strikes on Tuesday to 14, one of the bloodiest days in Gaza in recent weeks.
Hamas said Israel launched the strike that killed Odeh “in blatant violation of all values, norms, laws and divine principles.” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in his statement on the assassination that the “commander of Hamas terror organization’s military arm number 4 in Gaza was eliminated yesterday and sent to meet his partners in the depths of hell.”
Israeli attacks continued in Gaza on Wednesday as Palestinians held public prayers for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, at least two Palestinians were injured by a bombing in northern Gaza west of the Jabalia refugee camp.
According to the latest numbers from Gaza’s Health Ministry, which were released on Tuesday, the IDF has killed at least 906 Palestinians in Gaza and injured 2,747 since the so-called ceasefire deal was signed in October 2025.
Israel has also violated the ceasefire deal by taking more territory in Gaza, as the IDF now occupies 60% of the Strip, up from the 53% it controlled at the start of the so-called truce, and continuing aid restrictions.
