Israel announced this Wednesday that it had killed the new head of Hamas’s armed wing in Gaza, Mohamed Odehafter having eliminated his predecessor in the middle of the month, in the midst of a ceasefire.
Since the devastating Hamas attack October 7, 2023Israel has systematically attacked the group’s leaders, both in Gaza and throughout the region.
Odeh is the fourth head of the Ezedine Brigades al Qassam that Israel claims to have eliminated since the start of the war in Gaza.
In a joint statement, the Israeli army and the internal security agency Shin Bet announced the death of Mohamed Odehnoting that he had been appointed head of the brigades after the assassination of Ezedine al Hadad on May 15.
The Minister of Defense, Israel Katzstated that “the commander of the armed wing of the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza was eliminated yesterday (Tuesday) and sent to join his comrades in the depths of hell.”
Contacted by AFP, a Hamas source stated that the Odeh’s wife and two children were also killed in the airstrike, and that the funeral procession would take place on Wednesday in Gaza City.
The group never officially announced or confirmed Odeh as brigade chiefbut for a long time she had been in charge of its intelligence service and was one of the higher ranking figures of the group still alive in the Gaza Strip.
On Tuesday night, a security source in Gaza told AFP that there was intense Israeli shelling in western Gaza. Gaza City.
“Marked for death”
“We committed to eliminating all those who led the October 7 massacreand that is what we will do: everyone is marked for death, wherever they are,” Katz added on the X social network, referring to the 2023 Hamas attacks that sparked the war in Gaza.
The defense minister reiterated Israel’s goal of ending Hamas rule over the Palestinian territory, and alluded to a plan for the displacement of its residents.
“The plan for voluntary migration from Gaza will also be implemented: everything will be done at the right time and in the right way,” he said.
The displacement of the Gazans was a project initially supported by the president of the United States, donald trumpand then discarded it.
In February, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turkdenounced plans “aimed at bringing about permanent demographic change in Gaza.”
Six dead in latest attacks
Since a ceasefire in Gaza came into effect in October 2025, there have been deaths 910 people due to attacks by Israel, according to the territory’s Ministry of Health.
Mahmud Basalspokesman for the Gaza Civil Defense agency, told AFP that six people were killed in Israeli strikes in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City on Tuesday night.
Israel continues to maintain control of a 60% of the Gaza Stripincluding all entry and exit points, while the population is concentrated on the coast.
Following Hamas’ attack on Israel in 2023, Netanyahu pledged to locate and eliminate the leaders responsible for that movement.
That Hamas operation caused the death of 1,221 people in Israeli territory, according to an AFP count based on official figures from the Jewish State.
Israel’s retaliatory response in Gaza leaves at least 72,803 deadaccording to the territory’s Ministry of Health, which operates under the authority of Hamas.
Israel had already killed the former political leader of Hamas in Tehran, Ismail Haniyehalready Yahya Sinuarhis boss in Gaza, who was widely considered to have masterminded the October 7 attack.
He also brought down Mohammed Deifthe longtime commander of Hamas’s armed wing, as well as Mohamed Sinuarwho succeeded his brother Yahya as chief in Gaza.
Israeli attacks have also targeted members of Hamas in Lebanon and senior commanders of Hezbollah, a group backed by Iran and an ally of the Palestinian group, including its historical leader Hasan Nasrallah, assassinated in Beirut in 2024.
