Hamas has confirmed that Israeli air strikes in Gaza City killed the new leader of its military wing less than two weeks after his predecessor was killed.
Hamas said in a statement that Mohammed Odeh died on Tuesday along with his wife and two of his children in an air strike.
It came after Israeli defence 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 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.
Thousands of people gathered on 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 poster emblazoned with the words “one of the chiefs of staffs of the Qassam Brigades”, referring to Hamas’s 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.
Mr Katz called him “one of the architects” of the October 7 2023 attacks that triggered over two years of war in Gaza.
He said it was the fourth time Israel has killed the head of Hamas’s military wing since that massacre.
Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the previous head, was killed on May 16.
At least five people were killed and 12 injured in Tuesday’s strike, which took place on the eve of Eid al-Adha, a major Muslim holiday.
“We pledged to eliminate everyone who led the October 7 massacre and this is what we will do: they are all bound to die, everywhere,” Mr Katz wrote on X on Wednesday.
“We pledged that Hamas will not hold civilian or military rule.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is preparing for elections in the fall, also threatened that Israel will target everyone involved in the October 7 2023 attack.
The attack came as Muslims prepared for Eid al-Adha, normally a joyous time of family gatherings and large meals.
The holiday once again is 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 two million people have lost their homes, according to UN 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 for being a joyous occasion during which families gather, and 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.
Tahrir al-Khatib said the joy that accompanies Eid has been silenced in Gaza.
“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.
A ceasefire reached between Israel and Hamas last October remains fragile.
Israeli attacks have killed more than 880 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 says 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 attacks in October 2023, which killed some 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza says over 72,700 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire.
The ministry, part of Gaza’s Hamas government, does not give a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths.
