Israel claims it targeted Hamas’s top commander in a Gaza strike.

On Friday, Israel announced that it had carried out a strike in Gaza aimed at Ezzedine Al‑Haddad, whom it identified as the chief of Hamas’s armed wing.

Following Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, the Israeli military and intelligence agencies have conducted an extensive campaign against the group’s senior political leaders and militant commanders in Gaza and beyond.

“The IDF has carried out a strike in Gaza targeting arch‑terrorist Ezzedine Al‑Haddad, commander of Hamas’s military wing and one of the principal architects of the October 7 massacre,” the defence minister’s office said in a statement.

It did not say whether he had been killed.

“Ezzedine Al‑Haddad was the target of the strike and BDA (battle damage assessment) confirmation is still pending,” a military official said in a separate statement.

“Within a short period of time after receiving intelligence regarding Haddad’s location from the IDF and the ISA intelligence officials, the Israeli Air Force aircraft took off to carry out the strike,” the official added.

Gaza’s civil defence agency, a rescue service operating under Hamas, said one person was killed and around 20 others wounded after Israeli warplanes “bombed a residential building” in the Al‑Ramal area of Gaza City.

The agency did not identify the victim.

Israeli television aired footage of a building on fire in Gaza, saying it was the site where Haddad had been targeted.

“Al‑Haddad was responsible for the murder, abduction and harm inflicted upon thousands of Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers,” the defence minister’s office said.

“He held our hostages in brutal captivity, orchestrated terrorist attacks against our forces and refused to implement the agreement advanced by US President Donald Trump for Hamas’s disarmament and the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip.”

– Ceasefire violations –

Militants from Hamas’s armed wing led the October 7 attack, which, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, left 1,221 people dead.

Militants also abducted 251 hostages to Gaza.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 72,700 people, according to the territory’s health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority.

The figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

Despite an October ceasefire, Gaza remains gripped by daily violence as Israeli strikes continue, with both the military and Hamas accusing one another of violating the truce.

At least 856 Palestinians have been killed since the truce began, according to the territory’s health ministry.