Assassination of Al-Qassam Chief of Staff and a Massacre in Al-Rimal Neighborhood in Gaza

Medical sources at Al-Shifa Medical Complex reported an increase in the number of martyrs due to the aerial raid carried out by the occupation aircraft on the residential Al-Rimal neighborhood west of Gaza City, reaching 4 martyrs, including women and children. The sources clarified that relief teams were able to retrieve the bodies from under the rubble of a residential building on Al-Wahda Street, while medical staff are still dealing with a number of critical injuries that arrived at the emergency departments.

In a significant field development, the Al-Qassam Brigades mourned Commander Mohammed Ali Khalil Odeh, known as 'Abu Amro,' who was martyred in the same raid. Local sources confirmed that the bombing directly targeted the residential apartment where Odeh was present, leading to his martyrdom along with his wife and two of his children, in an operation described as a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement in effect since October of last year.

Odeh is considered one of the founding generation of the military wing of the Hamas movement, having served as the Chief of Staff, succeeding the martyr Izz al-Din al-Haddad. This operation comes amidst a wide wave of escalation witnessed in the Gaza Strip since Tuesday morning, resulting in the martyrdom of 18 individuals in various areas, raising the total number of victims of the ongoing aggression since October 2023 to more than 72,000 martyrs.

On the ground, warplanes carried out what are known as 'fire belts' around civilian targets in Al-Rimal neighborhood, causing massive destruction to infrastructure and adjacent buildings. Civil defense teams face extreme difficulties in reaching all targeted sites due to the density of rubble and the shortage of essential equipment and medical supplies that hospitals are running out of.

Israeli reports claim that leader Mohammed Odeh succeeded Izz al-Din al-Haddad in leading Al-Qassam's staff after the latter's assassination in mid-May.