Israel Kills Hamas Military Chief Odeh in Gaza Strike
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- Hamas confirmed in a statement that airstrikes on Tuesday killed Mohammed Odeh, new head of its Qassam Brigades military wing, along with his wife and two children, in a Gaza City market strike that local hospitals say killed at least five people and wounded 12.
- Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz called Odeh "one of the architects" of the Oct. 7, 2023 attack and said this was the fourth time Israel has killed a Hamas military chief during the war; his predecessor Izz al-Din al-Haddad was killed on May 16, less than two weeks earlier.
- Wednesday evening strikes in Gaza City killed at least seven more people, including two children and a woman, with more than 20 wounded at Shifa hospital, as the Israeli military said it had targeted two Hamas militants in the northern Gaza Strip.
- Thousands attended the joint funeral of Odeh's family in Gaza City, with mourners draping the four bodies in green Hamas flags and chanting through the streets, on the eve of Eid al-Adha.
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, preparing for fall elections, warned that Israel will target everyone involved in the Oct. 7 attack, posting that "Hamas will not hold civilian or military rule."
- The fragile October ceasefire has frayed further: Israeli attacks have killed more than 900 Palestinians since it took effect, and four Israeli soldiers have also died in Gaza during that period.
- The Gaza Health Ministry reports more than 72,803 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire overall, with around 90% of Gaza's 2 million people displaced and sheltering in tent camps.
Why it matters: Israel is now on its fourth Hamas military chief killed in roughly two years, yet Hamas still held a flag-draped mass funeral in Gaza City's streets — a pattern showing that leadership decapitation has not neutralized the group even as Gaza's death toll surpasses 72,803 and the October ceasefire continues to erode.
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