DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Strikes killed at least seven people in Gaza City on Wednesday as Hamas confirmed that Israeli airstrikes the day before had killed the new leader of its military wing, less than two weeks after his predecessor also was killed.
According to a Hamas statement, Mohammed Odeh died in an airstrike on Tuesday, along with his wife and two of his children. Previously, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that the Israeli military had targeted and killed Odeh.
At least five people — including Odeh and his family members — were killed and 12 were injured in Tuesday's strike on a market in Gaza City, local hospitals said. The attack came on the eve of Eid al-Adha, a major Muslim holiday.
More strikes in the city on Wednesday evening killed at least seven people, including two children and a woman. More than 20 people were wounded, including several children, according to Shifa hospital.
Video from the scene showed flames pouring from an upper-floor window of a building and bystanders rushing to carry injured people, including some children, to waiting ambulances.
The Israeli military said Wednesday evening it had launched strikes in the northern Gaza Strip, targeting two Hamas militants.
Thousands of people gathered Wednesday for the joint funeral of Odeh's family in Gaza City. Mourners covered the four bodies with green Hamas flags and marched from a mosque through the city, chanting and firing shots in the air. Some carried posters with Odeh's photo, emblazoned with the words “one of the chiefs of staffs of the Qassam Brigades,” referring to Hamas' military wing.
Hamas condemned the strike, and said Odeh had been active with the group for more than three decades and was part of the first generation that helped establish the movement’s military and armed wing.
Katz called Odeh "one of the architects" of the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel that triggered the more than two-year war in Gaza. He said it was the fourth time Israel has killed the head of Hamas' military wing since the start of the war. Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the previous head, was killed on May 16.
Katz said that Israel would continue to target Hamas leaders involved in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack. “We pledged that Hamas will not hold civilian or military rule,” he wrote on X.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is preparing for elections in the fall, also warned that Israel will target everyone involved in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack.
A grim Eid al-Adha in Gaza
The attack that killed Odeh came as Muslims prepared for Eid al-Adha, normally a joyous time of family gatherings and large meals.
The holiday is again subdued this year in Gaza, where the vast majority of people remain displaced and live in tents or temporary shelters after a devastating war. Around 90% of Gaza’s more than 2 million people have lost their homes, according to U.N. estimates, with most of them now sheltering in huge tent camps with rat infestations and pools of sewage. They are dependent on aid to survive.
Eid al-Adha, or "Feast of Sacrifice," is an Islamic holiday celebrated by millions of Muslims across the globe. The four-day holiday, which begins during the Hajj pilgrimage, is also known as a time when children are given new clothes and gifts.
“This is not Eid ... we’re dead,” said Mahmoud Saqer, a displaced man from Khan Younis, who described people as being distressed by the ongoing human suffering and killings in the territory.
In Khan Younis and Gaza City, amid destroyed buildings, including a ruined mosque, people gathered for Eid prayers with few signs of celebration beyond a few clusters of balloons lining one street.
“There’s no Eid. My children were killed. Eid is only for the people who lost no one,” said Ayda Al-Banna, a displaced women from Gaza City, who prayed Eid prayers with her granddaughter.
Fragile ceasefire holds in Gaza
A ceasefire reached between Israel and Hamas in October remains fragile. Israeli attacks have killed more than 900 Palestinians since the ceasefire took effect. Israel says its attacks are in response to violations by Hamas or threats to its soldiers, but Palestinian health officials say scores of civilians have been among the dead. Four Israeli soldiers have also been killed during this period in Gaza.
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas October 2023 attack that killed some 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage.
The Gaza Health Ministry says more than 72,803 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire. The ministry is part of Gaza’s Hamas-run government, but staffed by medical professionals who maintain and publish detailed records that are viewed as generally reliable by the international community.
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Associated Press writer Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut and Fatma Khaled contributed from Cairo.
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