Israel struck a residential building in the heart of Gaza City on Tuesday, killing Mohammed Odeh, commander of Hamas‘s armed wing, along with at least three Palestinian civilians and wounding dozens more. The attack hit the Al-Kayali building in one of Gaza City’s busiest market areas, where residents were shopping ahead of Eid al-Adha.
Israel’s military and security agency Shin Bet said in a joint statement that they had tracked Odeh’s movements “for several months” before targeting “several buildings in the heart of Gaza City that served as a hideout for him.” They also struck “a nearby apartment belonging to a Hamas terrorist who raided on 7 October and was part of Odeh’s circle of assistants.”
Witnesses reported that at least five missiles struck the building almost simultaneously from different directions. Rescue teams struggled to reach the upper floors due to the scale of the destruction and the density of the surrounding area.
Ceasefire Holds in Name Only
The strike marks the latest in a series of Israeli attacks on Gaza despite a ceasefire that took effect on 10 October. Since then, Gaza’s health ministry reports that Israeli strikes have killed more than 800 Palestinians. Hamas has repeatedly accused Israel of breaching ceasefire terms and targeting civilians.
Israel, for its part, insists it retains the right to pursue Hamas members and accuses the group of failing to disarm, a condition of the US-led peace framework.
Odeh’s predecessor, Izz Ad-Din Al-Haddad, died in a similar Israeli strike earlier in May, also on a residential building. Meanwhile, progress on the later phases of the US-brokered Gaza plan, which envisioned transitional governance, demilitarisation, and reconstruction, has stalled since the US and Israel launched military operations against Iran in February. Hamas has since reactivated its police force and reasserted authority across the territory.
In total, Israeli forces have killed more than 72,744 people in Gaza since October 2023, according to figures that the United Nations considers reliable. Israel said Tuesday it would “continue to pursue anyone who took part in the 7 October attack.” The assault on Gaza has displaced the vast majority of the territory’s 2.1 million residents and reduced much of it to rubble.
