Occupation announces assassination of Al-Qassam's Al-Zaytoun Battalion commander and injuries in scattered raids

The Israeli occupation army announced today, Friday, the assassination of Imad Hassan Hussein Aslim, who holds the position of deputy commander of the Gaza City Brigade and commander of the Al-Zaytoun Battalion affiliated with the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. The military statement clarified that the operation was carried out last Wednesday in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), targeting one of the most prominent field commanders in the military wing of the Hamas movement.

The occupation's statement claimed that the martyr Aslim was responsible for leading the infiltration operations carried out by the battalion's fighters inside the settlements during the October 7, 2023 attack. The army also claimed that the targeted leader supervised dozens of military plans that targeted Israeli forces infiltrating the Gaza Strip in recent months, describing him as an 'immediate threat'.

The occupation army indicated that the air attack that targeted Aslim also hit another field commander in the Hamas movement, but the results related to the second individual are still under examination and scrutiny. In contrast, no official comment has been issued by the Hamas movement or its military wing regarding the details of this operation until the moment of preparing the news.

In Gaza City, hundreds of Palestinians mourned the body of the martyr Imad Aslim amidst a state of anger and condemnation of the ongoing occupation crimes. The mourners raised slogans emphasizing the continuation of resistance, considering that assassinations will not weaken the Palestinian people or end the presence of military formations in the Strip.

On the ground, nine Palestinians were injured since dawn today, Friday, as a result of a series of scattered Israeli attacks that targeted several areas in the Gaza Strip. Medical sources reported that the injured arrived at hospitals, where their injuries ranged from moderate to serious due to shelling and direct gunfire by occupation forces.

In detail of the attacks, a Palestinian woman was shot by occupation forces near the entrance to the Al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Strip. Local sources also confirmed the injury of another citizen by sniper fire from occupation snipers stationed near the Wadi Gaza bridge, amidst suspicious military movements of Israeli vehicles in that area.

Salah al-Din Street in the central Gaza Strip witnessed a limited incursion by occupation army vehicles that fired their heavy machine guns at citizens and their homes. This incursion coincided with artillery shelling that targeted the courtyard of a house in 'Block 9' in Al-Bureij camp, causing panic without any human casualties at that location.

At dawn today, an Israeli helicopter targeted commercial warehouses located below the 'Harz' residential building near Al-Yarmouk Stadium in the heart of Gaza City. The raid resulted in the injury of seven citizens with varying injuries, who were subsequently transferred to Al-Shifa Medical Complex to receive necessary treatment due to shrapnel and flying debris.

For its part, the Civil Defense Directorate in Gaza announced that its crews rushed to the site of the raid in the vicinity of Al-Yarmouk Stadium to control a massive fire that broke out in the targeted warehouses. The teams managed to extinguish the fire and prevent its spread to adjacent residential apartments in the building, which was partially damaged by the aerial bombardment.

At sea, Israeli warships continued their violations by firing shells and bullets at fishing boats off the coast of Gaza City. Local sources stated that the shooting aimed to force fishermen to retreat towards the shore and prevent them from carrying out their work, exacerbating the living suffering of the Strip's residents.

On the ground, Israeli artillery heavily shelled the eastern areas of Al-Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City. The artillery shelling was accompanied by intense gunfire from military vehicles stationed behind the security fence, causing material damage to citizens' property without recording new injuries in that area.

These field developments come in the context of repeated Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement that came into effect on October 10, 2025. According to Ministry of Health data, these violations since the signing of the agreement until yesterday have led to the martyrdom of 922 Palestinians and the injury of more than 2,700 others.

It is worth noting that the ceasefire agreement came after a long period of comprehensive aggression and the war of extermination launched by Israel with American support since October 2023. That war left massive destruction affecting about 90% of the infrastructure in the Strip, turning it into an uninhabitable area due to a severe shortage of basic resources.

Official statistics indicate that the total number of victims of the Israeli aggression since its beginning has exceeded 72,000 martyrs and more than 172,000 injured. Despite reaching truce agreements, the field reality indicates the continuation of systematic targeting of Palestinian military and civilian personnel in various governorates of the Gaza Strip.

The occupation claims that the martyr Imad Aslim led infiltration operations on October 7 and posed an immediate threat to its forces through intensive military plans.