{"id":116049,"date":"2026-05-16T01:07:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T01:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/116049\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T01:07:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T01:07:12","slug":"israel-targets-hamas-leader-in-air-strikes-in-gaza-killing-seven-palestinians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/116049\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel targets Hamas leader in air strikes in Gaza killing seven Palestinians"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israel said it was targeting Hamas’ armed wing chief in Friday’s air strikes, which killed at least seven Palestinians, including a child.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Neither Israel nor the militants have confirmed whether Hamas militant leader Izz al-Din al-Haddad had been killed or wounded.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Haddad became the group’s military chief in the Gaza Strip following Israel’s killing of commander Mohammad Sinwar in May 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At least two Israeli air strikes hit the area: the first targeted an apartment in the area of Rimal and the second targeted a vehicle on a nearby street.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hundreds of people live in the building that was targeted, said a civil defence spokesperson for Gaza, Mahmoud Basal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Seven Palestinians were killed in the strikes, including the son of a Hamas leader. (AP Photo\/Jehad Alshrafi)<\/p>\n

In addition to the seven killed, the attacks left at least 50 people injured.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The missile was fired without any pre-warning or notification,” said Basal.<\/p>\n

“We are talking about a big number \u200bof wounded, among them families.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

The attack comes as the two countries remain at a standstill, while US President Donald Trump talks of advancing his post-war plan for Gaza.<\/p>\n

Israel escalates attacks, says Haddad responsible for thousands of deaths<\/p>\n

According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Haddad was an architect of the attacks that precipitated Israel’s assault on the Palestinian territory in October, 2023.<\/p>\n

In a joint statement, Netanyahu and Israel’s Defence Minister, Israel Katz, said Haddad “was responsible for the murder, abduction, and harm inflicted \u200bon thousands of Israeli civilians (and) soldiers”.<\/p>\n

In the past five weeks, Israel has redirected its attacks back to Gaza since halting its joint bombing with the US in Iran.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Israeli military believes Hamas fighters are tightening their grip in the Palestinian region.<\/p>\n

\"Dozens<\/p>\n

Buildings were turned to rubble following the Israeli air strike.\u00a0 (AP Photo\/Abdel Kareem Hana)<\/p>\n

According to Gaza’s health ministry, almost 850 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks despite a “ceasefire” established last October.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The agreement halted major fighting in Gaza following two years of war between Israel and Hamas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, it has failed to reach a permanent settlement that would withdraw Israeli troops, disarm militants and begin to rebuild the ruined city.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to a report by the European Union and the United Nations, Gaza will need more than $US71 billion ($99.4 billion) in the next 10 years for the city’s reconstruction.<\/p>\n

Israeli forces still occupy more than half of Gaza’s territory, where they have demolished most remaining buildings.<\/p>\n

Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israel said it was targeting Hamas’ armed wing chief in Friday’s air strikes, which killed at least seven…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[260,496,1411,37,39885,864],"class_list":{"0":"post-116049","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-air-strikes","9":"tag-gaza","10":"tag-hamas","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-izz-al-din-al-haddad","13":"tag-president-donald-trump"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116581581171927938","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}