This is a sin, I swear it's a sin.
During the Eid al-Adha holiday, when families across Gaza gathered to celebrate, Israeli airstrikes killed at least ten people in Gaza City — five of them children — as part of a sustained campaign to dismantle Hamas leadership. The strikes reflect a recurring tension in modern warfare: the pursuit of named combatants through the geography of civilian life. As indirect peace negotiations stall over weapons and withdrawal, each strike raises the same unanswered question — whether the elimination of commanders brings an end closer, or forecloses it.
- Israeli airstrikes killed at least ten people in Gaza City, including five children, during Eid al-Adha — a moment when families were gathered and children were sharing chocolates on rooftops.
- The strikes targeted Hamas battalion commander Imad Asleem in his residential building; his teenage daughter died alongside him, and a nearby displacement camp was shredded by the blast.
- Within days, Israel also killed the newly appointed head of Hamas's military wing, its financial network chief, and a weapons production commander — a concentrated decapitation campaign across multiple locations.
- Peace talks brokered by the United States have stalled over Hamas's refusal to disarm and Israel's refusal to withdraw, and the ongoing strikes are deepening doubt about whether a negotiated path remains viable.
Late Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike destroyed a residential building in central Gaza City, killing at least ten people — five of them children. The apparent target was Imad Asleem, a Hamas battalion commander who lived there with his family. His teenage daughter Israa died with him. Both were buried the next day.
Around twenty others were injured. Raslan Bajou was asleep in a nearby displacement camp when the blast woke him to chaos — his wife hurt, his neighbors destroyed. Um Azzam al-Zaim had been visiting relatives for Eid al-Adha when the building beside her tent was struck. She described escaping the rubble only to find the bodies of children who had climbed a neighboring rooftop to share holiday chocolates with one another.
The strike was not isolated. The day before, Mohammed Odeh — newly appointed head of Hamas's military wing — was killed along with his wife and two sons. Earlier that week, Israeli strikes in Khan Younis killed Hamas's financial network chief and a weapons production commander. A separate strike on al-Meghazi refugee camp killed at least five more.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz framed the campaign as a fulfillment of a pledge made after the October 2023 attack, which killed roughly 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. The strikes come as American-brokered negotiations have stalled over two unresolved demands: Hamas surrendering its weapons, and Israel withdrawing its forces. Neither side has moved.
Since the war began, Gaza's health ministry — whose figures the United Nations considers reliable — reports more than 72,800 people killed, with the majority of Gaza's 2.1 million residents displaced. Whether targeting Hamas leadership will break the diplomatic deadlock or confirm that both sides have already abandoned it remains, for now, unanswered.
Late Wednesday evening, an Israeli airstrike flattened a residential building in central Gaza City, killing at least ten people. Five of them were children. The strike appeared designed to reach a specific target: Imad Asleem, a Hamas battalion commander who lived in the building with his family. His teenage daughter Israa died alongside him. Both were buried the following day.
Gaza City hospitals received the casualties. The Israeli military issued a terse statement saying it had struck "two central Hamas terrorists in the northern Gaza Strip" without naming them or acknowledging civilian deaths. Hamas offered no official response. The damage visible in footage from Thursday showed a gutted residential structure in the heart of the city, its walls blown open, its interior exposed. Nearby, a camp housing displaced Palestinians lay in ruins—tents shredded, possessions scattered.
Around twenty people were injured in the blast. Raslan Bajou was asleep in his tent when the strike came. He woke to chaos. His wife was hurt. His neighbors, he said, were destroyed. "This is a sin, I swear it's a sin," he told the BBC. Um Azzam al-Zaim had been visiting relatives to celebrate Eid al-Adha when the building next to her tent was hit. A water tank on the roof above her burst. Rubble fell. She described struggling to escape the collapsed tent, then seeing something worse: the bodies of children who had climbed onto the neighboring roof to share Eid chocolates with one another. The blast had thrown them down.
Thursday brought a large funeral procession through Gaza City. A body wrapped in a Hamas flag moved through the crowds on a stretcher, a rifle placed across it. Green flags—Hamas's color—waved overhead. The strike on Gaza City was not an isolated incident. The day before, Mohammed Odeh, the newly appointed head of the Hamas military wing, was killed along with his wife and two sons in another Israeli airstrike. A fifth person, a woman, also died in that attack. On Tuesday, Israeli strikes in Khan Younis killed Ihab Khrizim, who managed Hamas's financial networks, and Mohammed al-Habash, a unit commander involved in weapons production. The same day brought another strike on al-Meghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least five more Palestinians.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz framed the campaign in stark terms. Writing on social media, he stated that his country had committed itself to eliminating everyone responsible for the October 2023 attack that killed roughly 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. "We pledged that Hamas will not rule Gaza civilly or militarily," he wrote. The strikes come as Israel and Hamas sit in indirect, American-brokered negotiations over a peace plan proposed by President Donald Trump. The talks have stalled on fundamental questions: Hamas is being asked to surrender its weapons; Israel is being asked to withdraw its forces. Neither side has moved.
The broader context is the war itself. Israel's response to the 2023 attack was a sustained military campaign that has reduced much of Gaza to rubble and displaced the majority of its 2.1 million residents. According to Gaza's health ministry—figures the United Nations considers reliable—Israeli forces have killed more than 72,800 people. The strikes this week, targeting senior Hamas figures in residential areas during a religious holiday when families gathered together, illustrate the collision between Israel's stated military objectives and the civilian landscape in which those objectives are pursued. Whether the targeting of leadership will advance the stalled negotiations, or whether it signals that both sides have abandoned the diplomatic path, remains unclear.
Citas Notables
This is a sin, I swear it's a sin.— Raslan Bajou, tent resident in displacement camp
We pledged that Hamas will not rule Gaza civilly or militarily.— Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does the timing of these strikes matter? They're happening during peace talks, aren't they?
Yes. Israel and Hamas are supposed to be negotiating through American intermediaries right now, but the strikes suggest Israel isn't waiting. It's eliminating leadership while talks are supposedly ongoing. That's a signal about how seriously either side takes the negotiations.
And the children—were they deliberately targeted, or collateral damage?
The target was Asleem, the commander. His daughter was with him. The other children killed were in the displacement camp nearby, in tents. So some were family of the target, others were simply nearby when the building came down.
The source mentions Eid al-Adha specifically. Why is that detail important?
Because families gather during Eid. People visit relatives. Children play together. The camps were full of people celebrating together when the strike hit. It wasn't a military installation—it was a neighborhood during a holiday.
How does this fit into the larger pattern of strikes?
It's part of a sustained campaign against Hamas leadership. But each strike kills civilians too. The question is whether eliminating commanders actually weakens Hamas militarily, or whether it just perpetuates the cycle.
And the peace talks—are they actually going anywhere?
They're stalled on the core issues: weapons and troop withdrawal. These strikes suggest Israel isn't waiting for diplomacy to work. It's pursuing its military objectives regardless of what's happening at the negotiating table.