Israel on Sunday said that its forces had killed the spokesman of the armed wing of Hamas in a strike on Gaza a day earlier, the latest fatality in the group’s senior ranks in the nearly two-year war.
“Hamas terror spokesperson Abu Obeida was eliminated in Gaza,” Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz said in a post on social media, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier said he had been targeted in a strike.
Israel has decimated Hamas’ leadership during 23 months of devastating fighting in the Gaza Strip, saying it seeks to eradicate the armed group and return hostages seized by Palestinian militants in their Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war.
Photo: AFP
Israeli Defense Forces Chief of the General Staff Eyal Zamir promised to continue targeting Hamas’ leadership, most of which he said are now abroad.
Hamas has not commented on the killing of Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida, whose real name according to the Israeli military is Hudaifa al-Kahlut.
Since the war began, he had issued dozens of televised speeches — always appearing in military fatigues and a red keffiyeh scarf to obscure his face — and published audio messages, statements and social media posts.
On the ground, smoke drifted into the sky above Gaza City and residents came to inspect the damage at a tent, crumpled in an overnight strike, with bloodstained blankets strewn in the rubble.
Ashraf Abu Amsha, a displaced Palestinian sheltering in the area, said that “horror, fear, destruction and fire erupted in all the tents.”
Israeli forces have been preparing for an offensive to seize Gaza City, the largest urban center in the Palestinian territories, intensifying bombardments in the area and warning of imminent evacuation.
Campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum on Sunday warned against expanding military operations, fearing they could jeopardize the lives of the remaining captives.
Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’ 2023 attack, 47 are still being held in Gaza, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead.
Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, accused the Israeli government of “deciding to sacrifice my living child” and troops by not accepting a proposed truce deal.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli strikes and gunfire across the territory on Sunday killed at least 63 people, 24 near aid distribution sites.
Iman Rajab, who lives in the displacement camp near Gaza City that residents said was hit by Israel overnight, said that “we are now afraid of the night and of sleeping in our tents.”
“We pray to God for the war to end because we are very tired from the displacement, the fear and the hunger,” Rajab said.
The vast majority of the Gaza Strip’s more than 2 million residents have been displaced at least once during the war.
The UN estimates that nearly 1 million people currently live in Gaza City and its surroundings, where famine has been declared.
Israel’s killing of Abu Obeida is the latest in a string of attacks targeting senior Hamas figures, including leader Yahya Sinwar, who is accused by Israel of masterminding the 2023 attack.
Israeli operations have also killed Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, the head of its armed wing Mohammed Deif, and other commanders and political figures, considerably weakening the Islamist movement.
Hamas earlier on Sunday confirmed the death of Mohammed Sinwar, Yahya Sinwar’s brother and the group’s presumed leader in Gaza, more than three months after Israel said it had killed him in an airstrike.
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