Israel on Wednesday said it had killed the new head of Hamas’s armed wing in Gaza, Mohammed Odeh. His predecessor, Ezzedine al-Haddad was earlier killed on May 15 despite an ongoing ceasefire.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz revealed that the “commander of the armed wing of the Hamas terrorist organisation in Gaza was eliminated yesterday and sent to meet his associates in the depths of hell”. In a joint statement, the Israeli military and the Shin Bet domestic security agency confirmed the killing of Odeh on Tuesday, saying he had been appointed head of the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades after the May 15 killing of al-Haddad. The group never officially announced or confirmed Odeh as head of the brigades.He had long been the head of its intelligence service.
Israel has previously killed Hamas’s former political chief Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, its Gaza chief who was widely regarded as the mastermind of the October 7 attack. It also killed Mohammed Deif, the longtime commander of Hamas’s armed wing, known as the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, as well as Mohammed Sinwar, who succeeded his brother Yahya Sinwar, as Gaza chief.
“We committed ourselves to eliminating everyone who led the October 7 massacre, and that is what we will do: they are all marked for death, wherever they may be,” Katz said in his post on X.
He also repeated Israel’s goal of ending Hamas’s rule over the Palestinian territory and alluded to a plan for the forced displacement of its residents.”The plan for voluntary migration from Gaza will also be implemented everything will be done at the right time and in the right way,” Katz said.
The displacement of Gazans is a project backed by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. US President Donald Trump previously expressed support for the idea before ditching it.