Abu Obeida, the longtime spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, has reportedly been killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City.
According to Israeli officials, aircraft struck a building in the al-Rimal district, targeting what they described as a “key figure.” Multiple missiles hit the upper floors of a six-storey apartment block that had been used as a dentist’s office. Witnesses reported money scattered in the aftermath, with some of it later retrieved by Hamas members.
Hamas has not confirmed his death, though the group accused Israel of killing and injuring dozens of civilians in the same neighborhood.
Abu Obeida, believed to be in his 40s, was one of the last remaining senior figures from Hamas’s military leadership involved in the October 2023 attack on southern Israel. For years, he served as the masked public face of the group, delivering fiery speeches against Israel and becoming a symbolic figure among its supporters.
In what may have been his final statement a day before the strike, he warned that the fate of Israeli hostages would mirror that of Hamas fighters if Israel proceeded with plans to seize Gaza City.
Israeli leaders have signaled that more strikes on Hamas commanders will follow as part of a broader offensive aimed at capturing Gaza City. Plans include evacuating the city’s nearly one million residents to shelters in the south before ground forces advance.
Conditions in the city remain dire. Most homes have been damaged or destroyed, health and sanitation systems have collapsed, and famine was recently confirmed in Gaza City and surrounding areas.
The conflict, now approaching two years, began after the October 2023 Hamas-led assault that killed around 1,200 people in Israel and saw hundreds taken hostage. Since then, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed, and much of Gaza has been reduced to rubble.