Israel confirms it tried to kill Hamas Gaza chief al-Amoudi; army radio says attempt likely failed

Israel has confirmed it attempted to kill Ali al-Amoudi, Hamas’s leader in the Gaza Strip, in a pre-dawn airstrike on a Gaza City apartment on Saturday — and Israeli Army Radio reported on Sunday evening that military assessments lean toward the conclusion the attempt failed.

The strike hit a residential building in the Rimal neighbourhood of western Gaza City, killing five people, four of them women, according to local officials. It came on the anniversary, according to the Jewish calendar, of the October 7, 2023 attack. The Israeli military said it aimed to kill al-Amoudi, describing him as the “right-hand man” of slain Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar and saying he was involved in planning the October 7 attack (Japan Times/AFP).

A medical source named the five dead as Maysa Abu Daoud, 55, her daughter Maria Abu Daoud, 36, Yasmin al-Bubu, 48, Hallum al-Bubu, 23, and Bilal Ali Uda, 20. Two of the victims were Christians. Six more people were injured. Israeli public broadcaster KAN, citing reports from Gaza, said al-Amoudi’s name was not among the dead and his fate remained unknown (Anadolu via UA.News). AFP separately identified the two Christian victims as Maysaa Abu Daoud and her daughter Mary Al-Najjar, whose funerals were held on Saturday at Gaza City’s small Greek Orthodox church of Saint Porphyrius (CNA/AFP).

Army Radio said the attempt to kill al-Amoudi — described as a prominent representative of Hamas’s political wing in Gaza — was likely unsuccessful. Channel 12 said it was too early for final conclusions, with no confirmation of the strike’s success hours after the attack. Hamas sources told Anadolu that al-Amoudi assumed interim leadership of the movement in Gaza in July 2026 after Khalil al-Hayya was elected head of its political bureau, pending a successor’s election.

Israel said it was reviewing whether it killed or injured al-Amoudi, and that the strike used precise munitions with steps taken to mitigate civilian harm. Saturday’s attempt follows this desk’s earlier report on the operation; this is the first Israeli acknowledgment of the targeting and the first assessment of its outcome.