Israeli Strike in Gaza City Kills 10, Including Five Children; Hamas Commander Among Dead.
Gaza City:
At least 10 people, including five children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in central Gaza City late Wednesday night, according to local hospitals and eyewitnesses. Around 20 others were reportedly injured in the attack, which targeted what the Israeli military described as “two central Hamas terrorists in the northern Gaza Strip.”
Local sources identified one of the targets as Imad Asleem, a commander of a Hamas battalion, who was killed alongside his teenage daughter Israa. Both were buried on Thursday amid a large funeral procession in Gaza City. Hamas has not officially commented on the strike or confirmed Asleem’s role.
The Israeli military released a brief statement following the attack but did not disclose the identities of those targeted. The strike is part of a series of recent Israeli operations aimed at senior Hamas figures in Gaza.
Footage from the aftermath showed a heavily damaged residential building surrounded by destroyed tents in a nearby camp sheltering displaced families. Residents described scenes of panic and devastation as debris and water flooded the area.
Raslan Bajou, who was sleeping in a nearby tent during the strike, said the explosion tore through the camp without warning.
“This is a sin, I swear it’s a sin,” he told BBC News. “My neighbours were in pieces. We didn’t know what was going on.”
Bajou added that his wife was injured in the blast.
Another resident, Um Azzam al-Zaim, said her family had gathered to celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha when the strike hit.
“We were soaked when a water tank on the roof above was hit,” she said. “Our tent broke and rubble fell on me from outside. It was difficult for us to get out.”
She also recalled seeing children among the victims.
“The children had gathered on the roof to share Eid chocolates,” she said. “Some of them were blown off the building.”
Images from Gaza City on Thursday showed thousands attending funeral prayers. A body wrapped in the green Hamas flag was carried through crowds on a stretcher with a rifle placed on top, while mourners waved green flags associated with the Palestinian armed group.
The Gaza City strike came just a day after another Israeli operation killed Mohammed Odeh, the newly appointed head of Hamas’s military wing, along with his wife and two sons. Another woman was also reportedly killed in that strike.
Earlier this month, on May 15, Israel killed Odeh’s predecessor, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, as part of its ongoing campaign targeting Hamas leadership.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz reiterated the government’s position on Wednesday, writing on X that Israel had “pledged to eliminate everyone who led the October 7 massacre” in 2023. He added: “Hamas will not rule Gaza civilly or militarily.”
The Israeli military also said that separate strikes in Khan Younis on Tuesday killed Ihab Khrizim, identified as the head of a Hamas funds transfer network, and Mohammed al-Habash, a Hamas unit commander allegedly involved in weapons manufacturing.
Another Israeli attack on the same day reportedly killed at least five Palestinians in the al-Meghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, according to local hospital authorities.
The intensified strikes come as indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas, brokered by the United States, remain deadlocked. Talks are reportedly focused on advancing a peace framework proposed by US President Donald Trump, which includes discussions on Hamas disarmament and phased Israeli troop withdrawals from Gaza.
The conflict began after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.
In response, Israel launched a large-scale military campaign across Gaza. According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, more than 72,800 people have been killed since the war began. The United Nations considers the ministry’s casualty figures broadly reliable.
The war has devastated much of Gaza’s infrastructure and displaced a majority of the territory’s 2.1 million residents, deepening an already severe humanitarian crisis.
