Israel targets Hamas figure Ali al-Amoudi in deadly Gaza City strike

Israeli forces targeted senior Hamas figure Ali al-Amoudi in an airstrike on a residential apartment in Gaza City on Oct. 3, 2026, the Israeli military said. Local officials reported that five people, four of them women, were killed, while subsequent Israeli Army Radio assessments indicated that the attempt to kill al-Amoudi probably failed.²³⁴⁶

Strike on a residential building

The pre-dawn strike hit an apartment in the Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City. The military and the Shin Bet said al-Amoudi was inside an apartment allegedly used for Hamas activity, although the result of the operation remained under review in the immediate aftermath.³⁴⁶

Local officials cited by The Japan Times said five people were killed, including four women. EL PAÍS reported that the dead were four women and one man and identified Maisa Abu Dawoud and her daughter Mary among them. Friends and relatives later gathered at St. Porphyrius Church for their funeral.²³

Gaza authorities did not include al-Amoudi among the reported dead. On Oct. 4, Israeli Army Radio assessed that the operation had apparently failed, although Channel 12 said confirmation of the outcome was still unavailable.³⁴⁷

The Jerusalem Post separately reported that attack helicopters and tanks were used during an operation in which Israeli forces also fired at what the military called suspicious targets approaching the Yellow Line. Those operational details have not been independently confirmed by the other dossier sources.¹

Al-Amoudi’s position within Hamas

Accounts differ over al-Amoudi’s precise title. The Israeli military portrayed him as Hamas’s leading official in Gaza and said he had previously served as an aide to Yahya Sinwar. The Jerusalem Post reported that he succeeded Sinwar as Hamas’s Gaza leader, while a Hamas source cited by Anadolu portrayed him as the enclave’s de facto leader and likely formal successor.¹⁶⁷

Al Jazeera Arabic reported that al-Amoudi became acting leader in Gaza after Khalil al-Hayya was elected head of Hamas’s political bureau. The Jerusalem Post said al-Amoudi formally assumed the Gaza leadership position in July, following a leadership vacuum after Sinwar was killed in October 2024.¹⁴

The Israeli military described al-Amoudi as Sinwar’s “right-hand man” and said he was involved in planning the Oct. 7, 2023, attack. The Jerusalem Post also reported that al-Amoudi had headed Sinwar’s office and was among his closest associates. These descriptions and the allegation concerning his role in the 2023 attack come from Israeli sources.¹²

Al-Amoudi was released from Israeli imprisonment in the 2011 Gilad Schalit prisoner exchange, according to both The Jerusalem Post and Al Jazeera Arabic. The Jerusalem Post reported that he had spent nearly 20 years in prison and was subsequently elected to Hamas’s political bureau.¹⁴

Ceasefire dispute

The strike fell on the anniversary, under the Jewish calendar, of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, according to The Japan Times. That report described the attack as Israel’s deadliest day and said Israel responded with an offensive in Gaza.²

Israel says Hamas has been rearming and carrying out attacks in breach of the October 2025 ceasefire; Hamas denies those accusations. EL PAÍS reported that at least 1,400 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire, while Israel said militants had killed four of its soldiers in Gaza during the same period.³

Hamas condemned the attack on the residential apartment and called on mediators and the United States administration to respond to what it described as violations. The ceasefire mediated by the United States includes reconstruction, the disarmament of Hamas and a progressive withdrawal of Israeli troops, according to EL PAÍS.³⁴