Marrakech – Hamas confirmed on Wednesday that Israeli occupation forces (IOF) killed Mohammed Odeh, the commander of its armed wing in Gaza, in an airstrike that struck a residential building in central Gaza City on Tuesday night.
The IOF and the Shin Bet security service claimed buildings that served as a hideout for Odeh were targeted after months of intelligence surveillance aimed at tracking his movements and those of his operatives.
The IOF accused Odeh of being responsible for “planning and coordinating Hamas terrorists’ infiltration and attack targets during the October 7 massacre.”
Odeh was killed alongside his wife and two of his sons. The strike targeted the al-Kayali building in the Remal neighbourhood, one of Gaza City’s busiest market areas, as residents shopped ahead of the Eid al-Adha holiday. At least six people were killed and more than 20 others wounded in the attack.
Witnesses said at least five missiles struck the building almost simultaneously from different directions. One resident reported hearing a helicopter hovering overhead before the assault. Rescue teams struggled to reach the upper floors due to the scale of the destruction and congestion in the area.
Odeh, a former Hamas intelligence chief, reportedly succeeded Izz al-Din al-Haddad as head of the Qassam Brigades. Al-Haddad was killed in a separate IOF strike on May 15 that also targeted a residential building. Hamas had not officially confirmed Odeh’s appointment before his assassination.
Sources close to Hamas said Odeh was possibly the last remaining living member of the armed wing’s higher leadership council. “Odeh is one of the last senior commanders in Hamas’ military wing who took part in the planning and execution of the October 7 massacre and the management of combat operations against [Israeli army] troops,” the IOF noted.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alleged Odeh headed Hamas’s intelligence division at the time of the October 7, 2023 cross-border attack into Israel and was appointed to replace al-Haddad roughly a week before his killing.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Hamas would no longer exercise civilian or military control over Gaza. He added that a plan for what he called “voluntary migration” from the enclave would be implemented “at the right time and in the right way.” Palestinians reject any such displacement, viewing it as reminiscent of the 1948 Nakba.
A useless ceasefire
Odeh’s brother, Khalil, dismissed the so-called ceasefire as hollow. “There is no ceasefire, this is empty talk, there is no ceasefire with the occupation,” he affirmed. “Every time someone is martyred, we will be strong, our resolve is strong.”
His cousin, Ahmed Odeh, echoed the same defiance. “No matter the attempts to pressure us, we will not be taken from our lands,” he declared, adding that the resistance would not end with any single leader’s assassination.
A relative, Abu Al-Abd Odeh, vowed at the funeral in Gaza City that “this journey will not stop and the struggle of the Palestinian people will continue on all levels.”
A funeral was held after noon prayers on Wednesday at a mosque in Gaza City. Mourners carried the three bodies, wrapped in white burial shrouds, past buildings devastated by Israel’s genocidal military campaign.
Since the largely meaningless ceasefire took effect in October, IOF strikes have killed at least 900 Palestinians in Gaza. The cumulative death toll since October 2023 now stands at over 72,800, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, whose figures the UN considers reliable.
Israel’s brutal two-year offensive has displaced the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.1 million residents and destroyed 90% of civilian infrastructure.
Talks on implementing the second phase of the ceasefire deal remain deadlocked. The agreement left Israel occupying more than half of Gaza, while Hamas controls a narrow sliver of coastal territory. Progress has stalled further since the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran in February.
