Israel killed Izz al-Din Al-Beik, Hamas’ top armed-wing commander in northern Gaza, in an airstrike Tuesday as both sides trade accusations of violating the nearly year-old ceasefire and negotiations over disarmament and an Israeli withdrawal remain stalled.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Israel killed one of Hamas’ senior military commanders in an airstrike on Gaza City early Tuesday, continuing a series of targeted attacks that Israeli officials say are intended to prevent the militant group from rebuilding its forces during an increasingly strained ceasefire.
Izz al-Din Al-Beik, who headed Hamas’ armed wing in the northern Gaza Strip, was killed when an Israeli strike hit an apartment building in Gaza City’s Nasr neighborhood around dawn, Israeli and Palestinian officials said. Hamas subsequently confirmed his death. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=”0″}
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said the Israeli military deliberately targeted Al-Beik because of his role in planning attacks and recruiting additional militants.
Palestinian medics said another person wounded in the strike later died.
Al-Beik’s death comes amid an intensified Israeli campaign against Hamas figures in recent weeks. The Israeli military says it has killed at least 20 members of the group during September, including people it identified as senior commanders, participants in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and individuals involved in holding Israeli hostages.
Israel maintains that the operations are necessary because Hamas has been rearming, recruiting and preparing additional attacks in violation of the ceasefire that took effect last October.
Hamas disputes those allegations. The group says it has not been attempting to rebuild its arsenal or prepare new attacks and accuses Israel of undermining the ceasefire by continuing military operations inside Gaza.
Those competing claims have placed increasing pressure on an agreement that was intended to move Gaza from active war toward demilitarization, an Israeli troop withdrawal and reconstruction.
Nearly a year after the U.S.-brokered ceasefire took effect, negotiators have been unable to resolve two of its most consequential provisions: the terms under which Hamas would disarm and the conditions and timetable for Israeli forces to leave the territory.
With those disputes unresolved, large-scale reconstruction has made little progress and Israeli airstrikes have continued.
The human toll has also continued to rise despite the ceasefire.
Gaza health authorities say at least 1,400 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since the agreement took effect. The Israeli military says four Israeli soldiers have been killed during the same period. Recent reporting has documented continued strikes and deaths as Israel says it is acting to prevent Hamas from reconstituting its military capabilities. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=”1″}
Tuesday’s killing follows several other Israeli operations against senior Hamas personnel.
Israel has increasingly focused its strikes on commanders and officials it says remain involved in rebuilding Hamas’ military structure, recruiting fighters or preparing attacks. Al-Beik represented a particularly significant target because of his leadership position over Hamas forces in northern Gaza.
The latest strike also underscores how far the current situation remains from the broader goals envisioned when the ceasefire was negotiated.
The agreement called for an eventual reconstruction of Gaza after more than two years of war left much of the territory damaged or destroyed. Those efforts have largely stalled amid the unresolved dispute over Hamas’ weapons and Israel’s continued military presence.
Israel has maintained that meaningful reconstruction cannot proceed while Hamas remains armed and capable of renewed attacks. Hamas has resisted demands for complete disarmament and has accused Israel of using the issue to postpone withdrawal and reconstruction.
The underlying conflict began after Hamas-led fighters crossed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking hostages.
Israel responded with a military campaign in Gaza that Palestinian authorities say has killed more than 73,000 people.
Those figures do not resolve disagreements over responsibility for individual deaths or combatant casualties, but they illustrate the scale of losses accumulated during nearly three years of conflict.
The October ceasefire sharply changed the intensity of the fighting but did not produce a complete end to hostilities.
Israel has continued conducting airstrikes and other operations against people it identifies as Hamas operatives, while accusing the organization of violating the agreement by rebuilding its military network.
Hamas has denied those accusations and says Israel’s continuing attacks constitute violations of the same deal.
Al-Beik’s killing now removes the commander responsible for Hamas’ armed operations in northern Gaza at a time when Israeli leaders are signaling that their campaign against the group’s remaining leadership will continue.
The strike also adds another obstacle to an already fragile political process in which the central questions that were supposed to determine Gaza’s postwar future — Hamas’ disarmament, Israel’s withdrawal and reconstruction of the territory — remain unsettled nearly a year after the ceasefire began.
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