IDF targets Yahya Sinwar's successor, Hamas Gaza leader Ali al-Amoudi, in strike

IDF attack helicopters and tanks struck targets in Gaza on Saturday in an operation aimed at killing Ali al-Amoudi, who succeeded Yahya Sinwar as Hamas's leader in the Gaza Strip.

The IDF attempted to kill Ali al-Amoudi, Yahya Sinwar's successor as Hamas's leader in the Gaza Strip, during an operation on Saturday morning that included attacks by helicopters and tanks.

At around 8 a.m., reports said that the IDF had opened fire with an attack helicopter and tanks at suspicious targets that had approached the Yellow Line. It later emerged that the target of the operation was Hamas's current leader in the Gaza Strip.

Amoudi was released from an Israeli prison in the 2011 Gilad Schalit prisoner exchange after serving nearly 20 years in prison.

Following his release, Amoudi was elected to Hamas's political bureau. At the same time, he served as the head of the office of Yahya Sinwar, with whom he had been imprisoned and who was also released in the Schalit deal. Amoudi subsequently became one of Sinwar's closest associates.

Before being appointed as Sinwar's successor, Amoudi was responsible for leading the Palestinian propaganda apparatus during the war. The campaign, as previously noted, achieved considerable success in Europe and the United States.

Al-Amoudi rises after Sinwar's death

A leadership vacuum emerged after Sinwar was killed in October 2024. Several senior Hamas officials who remained alive then assumed control of the Gaza Strip, led by Amoudi, who became the enclave's de facto leader while remaining largely outside public awareness.