An Israeli airstrike killed Izz al-Din Al-Beik, the head of Hamas’ armed wing in the northern Gaza Strip, early on Tuesday, according to officials from both sides. The Gaza airstrike targeting the senior Hamas commander hit an apartment building in Gaza City’s Nasr neighborhood around dawn, marking one of the most high-profile killings in the enclave in months and raising fresh questions about the future of the fragile ceasefire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed that the Israeli military had targeted and killed Beik, who they said had been involved in planning attacks and recruiting militants. Hamas issued a statement confirming Beik’s death and describing him as one of the figures who led the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war.
What happened in the Gaza City strike
According to Reuters, medics said the strike hit a residential apartment building in the Nasr neighborhood of Gaza City around dawn on Tuesday, September 29. In addition to Beik, another person died from wounds sustained in the attack, health officials said.
Later on Tuesday, a second Israeli airstrike near a medical clinic in the Jabalia refugee camp killed one more person, taking the day’s death toll to at least three, medics said. The Israeli military said it had targeted a militant in the area.
The killing of Beik is part of a stepped-up campaign of Israeli strikes in recent weeks. The Israeli military says it has killed at least 20 Hamas figures this month, including people it identified as senior commanders, participants in the October 7 attacks, or individuals who held Israeli hostages. As with other cases involving a Gaza airstrike against a Hamas commander, the identities of several of those killed have not been independently verified, and Hamas has disputed some of Israel’s characterizations.
Israel and Hamas trade blame over the ceasefire
Israel says Hamas has been rearming and launching attacks in violation of a ceasefire agreed in October of last year, and has used that claim to justify the intensified strikes. Hamas has denied trying to carry out attacks or rebuild its arsenal, and accuses Israel of undermining the Gaza deal.
The US-brokered ceasefire agreed last year calls for the eventual reconstruction of the territory. But little progress has been made, as negotiators have failed to agree on terms for Hamas to disarm and for Israel to withdraw its troops. Israeli airstrikes have continued through the negotiating deadlock.
At least 1,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect, according to the territory’s health officials, while the Israeli military says four Israeli soldiers have been killed in the same period. Palestinian authorities say more than 73,000 people have been killed in Israel’s assault on Gaza since Hamas-led fighters killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel in October 2023. Those figures come from Gaza health authorities and have not been independently verified by all international bodies, though United Nations agencies have described them as broadly consistent with their own monitoring.
Who was Izz al-Din Al-Beik
Beik was the head of Hamas’ armed wing in the northern Gaza Strip, according to both Israeli and Palestinian officials. Israel described him as a key planner of attacks and a recruiter of militants. Hamas, in its statement, positioned him as a senior leader and said he was among those who led the October 7, 2023, cross-border attack on Israel.
Israeli officials have made Beik the latest example in their public case that Hamas continues to operate a command structure in Gaza despite more than two years of war. Hamas, for its part, has cast him as a martyr and used the strike to accuse Israel of deliberately sabotaging any path to a lasting truce.
What the strike means for the ceasefire
The timing of the strike adds pressure to an already shaky truce. Each side has accused the other of bad faith, and Tuesday’s killings could make the next round of negotiations even harder. The ceasefire’s terms were always narrow — a halt in fighting paired with promises of reconstruction and a roadmap toward disarmament — and both sides are now operating largely outside its spirit, even as neither has formally walked away.
The United States, which brokered the deal, has not yet publicly commented on Tuesday’s strikes. For Washington, the question is whether the agreement can survive a pattern of strikes that Gaza’s health authorities say has killed more than a thousand people since it began.
Regional and international reaction
Reaction to the strike was swift in the region. Hamas called the killing proof that Israel is not serious about de-escalation, while Israeli officials framed it as a legitimate defensive action against an active militant leader. Internationally, humanitarian organizations have continued to warn that repeated strikes on densely populated areas of Gaza City carry an enormous civilian risk, even when aimed at specific targets.
The strike comes at a moment of wider Middle East volatility, with tensions between Israel, Iran, and their respective allies running high. For readers following the region’s conflicts closely, the pattern will feel familiar — yesterday we reported on the killing of 50 Nigerien security personnel in coordinated jihadist attacks, another reminder that armed groups remain active across multiple continents.
FAQ
Who did Israel kill in the Gaza airstrike on September 29?
Israel killed Izz al-Din Al-Beik, the head of Hamas’ armed wing in northern Gaza. Both Israeli officials and Hamas confirmed his death, according to Reuters.
Where did the airstrike take place?
The strike hit an apartment building in the Nasr neighborhood of Gaza City around dawn. A separate strike near a clinic in the Jabalia refugee camp killed another person later in the day.
Is the Gaza ceasefire still in place?
Technically yes — neither side has formally abandoned it — but both Israel and Hamas accuse the other of violating its terms, and Israeli airstrikes have continued through the dispute.
How many people has Israel killed in Gaza this month?
The Israeli military says it has killed at least 20 Hamas figures this month. Gaza health officials say at least 1,400 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire took effect; those figures are from Gaza authorities and labeled as such.
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