The Israeli occupation has martyred Mohammad Odeh, the newly appointed commander of Hamas’s military wing the Al-Qassam Brigades, along with his wife and two sons, in a targeted airstrike on a residential building in the Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City on the eve of Eid al-Adha, Hamas confirmed on Wednesday.
The Israeli occupation forces and the Shin Bet security service claimed the building served as a hideout for Odeh, saying they had been tracking his movements and those of his operatives for months before carrying out the strike. The attack targeted the al-Kayali building in the Rimal neighbourhood, one of Gaza City’s busiest market areas, as residents were shopping ahead of the Eid al-Adha holiday. At least six people were martyred and more than 20 others wounded in the strikes.
Odeh had been appointed commander of Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades only days earlier, following the martyrdom of his predecessor Izz al-Din al-Haddad, who was assassinated by the Israeli occupation in a strike on the same neighbourhood on May 15. Odeh was a former head of Hamas’s intelligence headquarters and a senior member of the Al-Qassam Brigades military council.
Odeh had survived several Israeli assassination attempts during and before the Gaza war, including one after the October 2025 ceasefire that targeted his father’s home in Jabalia refugee camp, killing his oldest son Amr. He was appointed commander of the Al-Qassam Brigades and simultaneously became the Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, with the Brigades holding de facto leadership over Hamas under his command.
The martyrdom of Odeh marks the second assassination of a Hamas military commander in just eleven days, as the Israeli occupation continues its systematic campaign to decapitate the Palestinian resistance leadership. Hamas responded to the killing by reaffirming that the policy of assassinations will not end the Palestinian resistance, and that the movement will continue its armed struggle regardless of the losses it sustains.
Hamas stressed that the Israeli occupation is mistaken if it believes that targeting resistance leaders will force the movement to surrender or abandon its armed struggle, saying the resistance will remain firm no matter the sacrifices required. The Al-Qassam Brigades have historically appointed new commanders within days of each assassination, demonstrating the depth of the resistance’s organisational structure and its ability to withstand the Israeli occupation’s relentless campaign of targeted killings.
The strike on a crowded residential building in the heart of Gaza City, carried out as families prepared to celebrate Eid al-Adha, once again highlights the Israeli occupation’s complete disregard for Palestinian civilian life.
