Israel claims assassination of new Hamas armed wing chief in Gaza strike

Jerusalem: Israel said on Wednesday it had assassinated the new head of Hamas’s armed wing in Gaza, Mohammed Odeh, after martyring his predecessor earlier this month, despite an ongoing ceasefire.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the commander of the armed wing of the Hamas organisation in Gaza was assassinated yesterday.

In a joint statement, the Israeli military and the Shin Bet domestic security agency confirmed the killing of Odeh on Tuesday, saying he had been appointed head of the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades after the May 15 killing of Ezzedine al-Haddad.

Contacted by AFP, Hamas did not immediately respond to the announcement.

The group never officially announced or confirmed Odeh as head of the brigades.

He had long been the head of its intelligence service.

“We committed ourselves to eliminating everyone who led the October 7 massacre, and that is what we will do: they are all marked for death, wherever they may be,” Katz said in his post on X.

He also repeated Israel’s goal of ending Hamas’s rule over the Palestinian territory and alluded to a plan for the forced displacement of its residents.

“The plan for voluntary migration from Gaza will also be implemented — everything will be done at the right time and in the right way,” he said.

The displacement of Gazans is a project backed by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. US President Donald Trump previously expressed support for the idea before ditching it.

In February, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, denounced plans “aimed at making a permanent demographic change in Gaza”.

In the aftermath of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to target and eliminate the leaders behind it.

The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel’s attack in Gaza has killed at least 72,803 people, according to the territory’s health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority.

Israel has previously killed Hamas’s former political chief Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, its Gaza chief who was widely regarded as the mastermind of the October 7 attack.

It also killed Mohammed Deif, the longtime commander of Hamas’s armed wing, known as the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, as well as Mohammed Sinwar, who succeeded his brother Yahya Sinwar, as Gaza chief.

Israeli strikes have also targeted Hamas operatives in Lebanon and senior Iran-backed Hezbollah commanders allied with the group, including former Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.