Israel targets top Hamas leader in deadly Gaza strike, killing five

Mourners carry a body during the funeral of Palestinian Orthodox Christians Mary Hafez Abu Daoud and her daughter Maysa Abu Daoud, who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on an apartment building, according to medics, at Saint Porphyrius Church, in Gaza City, October 3, 2026. DAWOUD ABU ALKAS / REUTERS Israel said on Saturday, October 3, that it attempted to kill Hamas's top leader in the Gaza Strip in an airstrike on an apartment that local officials said killed five people, four of them women. The pre-dawn strike came on the anniversary according to the Jewish calendar of the October 7, 2023 attack, the deadliest-ever day for Israel which retaliated with a devastating offensive in Gaza. The Israeli military said it aimed to kill Ali al-Amoudi, describing him as the "right-hand man" of slain Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar and saying he was involved in planning the October 7 attack. Israel said it was reviewing whether it killed or injured him. It said it targeted him after learning that he was inside an apartment building, saying it showed that Hamas was using civilians as human shields. "Today, al-Amoudi is the most senior Hamas figure in the Gaza Strip and is directly involved in Hamas's terror activities and in rebuilding the organization for war. The terrorist was struck in order to remove the threat," a military statement said. "Steps were taken to mitigate harm to civilians, including the use of precise munitions," the military said, adding it "regrets any harm caused to uninvolved individuals." Israel killed Sinwar in Gaza in October 2024, in what many Israelis saw as a major symbolic victory, although Israel has vowed to keep destroying Hamas even since a US-brokered ceasefire was declared a year ago. Amoudi is considered Hamas's top person in the Gaza Strip. The movement's leader Khalil al-Hayaa lives in Qatar and has tried to manoeuver diplomatically to Hamas's advantage. Help us improve Le Monde in English Dear reader, We’d love to hear your thoughts on Le Monde in English! Take this quick survey to help us improve it for you. Take the survey Hayaa agreed in July to a US plan for Hamas to give up its weapons, in what President Donald Trump hailed as a breakthrough but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed as insincere. Christians among dead An official at Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital told Agence France-Presse it received at dawn the bodies of five people and a number of injured following an airstrike in the Rimal neighbourhood. It said the dead were two women and their daughters, as well as a man. Mahmoud Bassal, the spokesman for the civil defense agency which operates as a rescue force under Hamas authority, said two missiles directly hit the apartment, causing a fire and damaging the building. Two of the five victims were Christians, the hospital director said. Read more Subscribers only 'Factory of targets' and 'collateral damage': Israeli soldiers describe Gaza methods Mourners gathered later on Saturday at the small Greek Orthodox church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City for the funeral of the two women, identified as 56-year-old Maysaa Abu Daoud and her 36-year-old daughter Mary Al-Najjar. Ihab Ayad, a relative of the women, said that they had been "minding their own business" at home when Israel carried out the strike. "We didn't hurl stones or fire rockets. If any child among us carries a stone, they call him a terrorist, a murderer. But they possess the most powerful arsenal and destroy everything," he said. Around 1,000 Christians, most of them Orthodox, live in the Palestinian territory. A larger Palestinian Christian community lives in the West Bank, although emigration has increased since the start of the war. Israeli forces have killed more than 1,440 people since the announcement of the ceasefire a year ago, according to Gaza's health ministry. The Israeli military has identified five deaths in its ranks over the same period, as well as the death of one civilian contractor. Read more Subscribers only Soldier testimony sheds light on how Israel wages information war Le Monde with AFP