Hamas commander among seven killed in latest Israeli strikes on Gaza

Smoke billows from a site targeted by an Israeli strike in Al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on September 25, 2026. Gaza’s civil defence agency said that Israeli fire on Tuesday killed at least seven people, including a Hamas commander, confirming an earlier report from the Israeli military. — AFP pic

First Published: Wednesday, 30 Sep 2026 9:03 AM MYT

JERUSALEM, Sept 30 — Gaza’s civil defence agency said that Israeli fire on Tuesday killed at least seven people, including a Hamas commander, confirming an earlier report from the Israeli military.

The agency, which operates as a rescue force under Hamas authority, said that Izz al-Din al Beik was killed in an Israeli strike west of Gaza City, together with another man.

Hamas described him in a statement as a “member of the General Military Council of the al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas’s military wing) and commander of the Northern Brigade”.

Announcing Beik’s killing, the al-Qassam Brigades said he had been one of the commanders in the operations room for Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war.

The Israeli military confirmed Beik’s role as commander of Hamas’s northern Gaza brigade, and said he had directed Hamas operatives to carry out attacks against Israeli troops and civilians.

He was “eliminated in a precise aerial strike”, the military said.

The civil defence further reported that three people were killed and several injured in two Israeli drone strikes in the Jabalia area in the northern Gaza Strip, and one person was killed by Israeli gunfire in Deir al-Balah in the centre of the territory.

Later on Tuesday evening, another person “was killed and others were wounded in an Israeli drone strike targeting a house” in Gaza City, the civil defence agency reported.

When contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it would later provide further details about some of the targets.

The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented 2023 attack against Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

The massive Israeli offensive in response has left most of Gaza in ruins and killed more than 74,000 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which is under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

Israeli forces have killed more than 1,400 people since a ceasefire was announced last October, 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. — AFP