Israel Kills Hamas Commander Mohanad Saada In Gaza Airstrike On Beit Lahia

Strike breaks lull

Israel carried out its first air strike in more than a week in Gaza on Wednesday, targeting a Hamas commander and killing Mohanad Saada while wounding five other people, according to Gaza’s civil defence agency and al-Shifa Hospital. The strike hit Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip and Gaza’s civil defence agency said it targeted civilians riding in a tuk-tuk, while a witness said Saada was among a group of workers repairing a wall damaged by Israeli shelling. The Israeli military said it targeted the Hamas commander “in order to remove the threat to IDF troops,” and added that it tried to mitigate civilian harm.

Al Jazeera also described the deceased as Mohanad Saada and said his body was transferred alongside five injured individuals to al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. A civil defence spokesman, Mahmoud Bassal, said “today the occupation resumed its aerial bombardment,” after an almost complete cessation of airstrikes and assassinations for over a week.

Reporting for this sectionSouth China Morning PostAl Jazeera

Netanyahu, US pressure

The strike came days after Netanyahu publicly rejected a Trump-backed ceasefire deal, and the Gulf News account said the US pressed a peace plan as Israel broke a relative lull.

In the Jerusalem Post, defense and political officials described missed opportunities to strike Hamas’s military wing operatives over the past week under government policy, and senior political officials told Walla that “This is a complete lie. The IDF did not bring a single targeted killing for approval over the past week.”

The Jerusalem Post also quoted Netanyahu rejecting a “15-point Board of Peace Gaza document,” saying “Israel rejects the 15-point document. The IDF will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed.”

Al Jazeera reported that Trump announced a “historic” 15-point plan drafted by the Board of Peace calling for “the complete disarmament of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza,” and said Hamas endorsed it while Netanyahu rejected the document on Sunday.

Al Jazeera further said Israeli forces continued ground-level shelling and drone attacks even after a reduction in heavy air raids following international diplomatic talks, and it reported additional attacks on Wednesday including a quadcopter drone attack in Khan Younis and artillery shelling near the Bureij refugee camp.

Reporting for this sectionThe Jerusalem Post

Casualties and what’s next

Across the sources, the death toll since the October 2025 ceasefire is described with different figures, with Gulf News saying Israel’s operations in Gaza have killed 1,259 Palestinians since the ceasefire, while Al Jazeera said Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,250 Palestinians since the US-backed “ceasefire” took effect in October. Al Jazeera also stated that “At least 73,388 Palestinians have been killed and 174,259 others wounded since Israel launched its genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza on October 7, 2023,” while El Periodista and Infobae similarly tied their higher totals to the period since the October 7, 2023 offensive. El Periodista said Israel confirmed an airstrike on someone it identified as the head of a Hamas cell in Beit Lahia despite the ceasefire agreed in October 2025, and it quoted the Israeli Army saying its forces “will continue to act to eliminate any immediate threat.”

Infobae likewise said the Israeli attack in Beit Lahia resulted in the death of a man identified as Muhannad Saada and several injuries, and it reported Gaza authorities raising the death toll to more than 1,260 and injuries to more than 4,100 due to attacks since the ceasefire. In the immediate aftermath of the Wednesday strike, Al Jazeera said the deceased was Mohanad Saada and that civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal told AFP the pause had ended, framing the next phase as a resumption of aerial bombardment after over a week of near cessation.

Reporting for this sectionGulf NewsAl Jazeera