GAZA CITY: Hamas confirmed Wednesday that an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City killed the new leader of its military wing less than two weeks after his predecessor was killed.
Thousands gathered for a joint funeral and the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha began under shadow of war.
Mohammed Odeh died Tuesday along with his wife and two of his children in an airstrike on a market, the militant group said in a statement. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced earlier that the Israeli military had targeted and killed Odeh.
Local hospitals reported that at least five people, including Odeh and his family members, were killed and 12 others were injured in the strike, which came on the eve of the major Muslim holiday.
Thousands of mourners marched Wednesday from a mosque through Gaza City for the joint funeral of Odeh’s family. The four bodies were draped in green Hamas flags, with mourners chanting and firing shots in the air.
Some carried posters bearing Odeh’s image emblazoned with the words “one of the chiefs of staffs of the Qassam Brigades,” a reference to Hamas’ military wing.
Hamas condemned the strike and said Odeh had been active with the group for more than three decades, describing him as part of the first generation that helped establish the movement’s armed wing.
The attack came as Muslims prepared for Eid al-Adha, or the “Feast of Sacrifice,” a four-day holiday typically marked by family gatherings, new clothes, gifts and large meals.
But the holiday is again subdued in Gaza, where the vast majority of people remain displaced and live in tents or temporary shelters after a devastating war.
Around 90% of Gaza’s more than 2 million people have lost their homes, according to U.N. estimates, with most sheltering in sprawling tent camps afflicted by rat infestations and sewage pools, dependent on aid to survive.
A ceasefire reached between Israel and Hamas in October remains fragile. Israeli attacks have killed more than 880 Palestinians since the truce took effect, according to Palestinian health officials, who say scores of civilians have been among the dead.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza says more than 72,803 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of the war.
