Israeli strike targets Hamas military chief amid fragile Gaza ceasefire

Israeli airstrikes hit Gaza on Friday with their sharpest aim yet at Hamas’s command structure, as Israel said it targeted Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the head of the group’s military wing in the strip. Israeli officials did not immediately say whether al-Haddad was killed or wounded, and Hamas offered no immediate comment.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement that the strike targeted al-Haddad, whom they described as one of the architects of the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel and as responsible for the murder, kidnapping and harm of Israeli civilians and soldiers. Israeli reports described him as Hamas’s most senior military leader in Gaza, a position he took after Mohammad Sinwar was killed in May 2025.

That makes the strike strategically significant even before the outcome is known. If al-Haddad was killed, Israel would have struck the last major Hamas figure in Gaza said to be directly tied to the October 7 attack, potentially disrupting the chain of command inside Hamas’s Qassam Brigades and reshaping any decision-making on hostages and ceasefire terms. If he survived or was only wounded, the operation could still pressure Hamas to harden security, complicate communications and slow talks, but it would fall short of the decapitation blow Israel appears to have sought.

The attack landed amid a fragile U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza, underscoring how quickly the war can spill back into open violence. The strike reportedly hit a residential building in Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood, raising the civilian toll of an operation aimed at a single commander. Gaza medics said at least seven Palestinians were killed, including a child, and said women were among the dead, though they did not say whether al-Haddad was among them.

For Israel, the strike fits a broader effort to weaken Hamas’s military leadership while pressing over hostages and the next phase of the war. For Gaza, it renewed the central tension of the conflict: even a targeted attempt to remove one commander can cascade into more civilian deaths, fresh uncertainty over the ceasefire and a harder negotiating environment if Hamas chooses to answer with defiance rather than compromise.