Hamas Confirms Death Of Its Top Military Commander In IDF Gaza Strike

Israel's military has just taken out a high-value target, with the confirmed death of the commander of Hamas's military wing, Mohammed Odeh.

He was targeted in a a strike on the Gaza Strip Tuesday, in an operation which injured dozens more bystanders, given a residential building in a very busy market area of Gaza City was obliterated.

However, the IDF and Shin Bet security service sought to explain that Odeh used the civilian residential buildings as a hideout, but that his movements starting months ago were being tracked to that location.

By Wednesday, Hamas belatedly confirmed Odeh's death, along with his wife and two of his children.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the "commander of the armed wing of the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza was eliminated yesterday and sent to meet his associates in the depths of hell."

"In the Prime Minister's name and in my own, congratulations to the IDF and the Shin Bet on the brilliant execution," Katz said.

"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," the defense chief added.

According to more emerging details of the strike:

Tuesday's strike hit the upper three floors of the al-Kayali building in the center of Gaza City, where streets were busy with shoppers ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

Rescue teams rushed to the scene of the strikes but struggled to reach the upper floors because of the scale of the damage and congestion in the area.

Despite a Gaza ceasefire technically having long been in place, sporadic Israeli strikes and interventions in Gaza have continued for the last many months.

This past weekend saw IDF military actions in the enclave ramp up. For example on Sunday Reuters had confirmed new significant strikes on Gaza just as Washington unveiled that a tentative peace deal with Iran has been "largely negotiated" and is at the goal line:

Israeli strikes killed at least ‌three Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday, including two members of the Hamas-run police force, health officials said, in violence that underscored the fragility of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire.

Medics said an Israeli airstrike killed one person and wounded two others in the ​Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza.

This Gaza escalation has been met with accusations that Israel could be trying to sabotage what it may see as a 'bad deal' with Tehran. 

Israeli strike a building in western Gaza City in an assassination targeting a Mohammed Odeh, described as Hamas’ new military wing leader. He also served as the fifth Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/qNyL8j0YJx

— Eretz Israel (@EretzIsrael) May 27, 2026

Iran has long been trying to link a final peace framework to end to the war to the conflicts in Lebanon and Gaza - but Israel and Washington have consistently rejected this.