Israeli forces on Wednesday confirmed the killing of Hamas military chief Mohammed Odeh — the former head of the terror group’s intelligence apparatus and one of the architects behind the October 7 massacre — just 11 days after Israel eliminated his predecessor, as Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that every participant in the attack is now “marked for death.”
Katz confirmed Odeh’s elimination Wednesday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the previous night that the Jewish state had targeted the Hamas commander in a strike carried out by the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet following months of intelligence monitoring of his movements and those of his operatives.
The IDF and Shin Bet — Israel’s internal security agency — described Odeh as one of the last surviving senior Hamas commanders directly involved in orchestrating the October 7 massacre, during which Hamas terrorists murdered roughly 1,200 people and abducted 251 others, mostly civilians, in the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
“The fourth commander of Hamas’s military wing to be eliminated during the war was sent to join his partners in the depths of hell,” Katz said Wednesday, praising the IDF and Shin Bet for the “brilliant execution” of the operation.
“We committed to eliminating everyone who led the October 7 massacre, and that is what we will do,” Katz added. “They are all marked for death everywhere.”
According to the IDF and Shin Bet, Israeli forces struck several buildings in the heart of Gaza City that Odeh allegedly used as hideouts after months of intelligence tracking tied him and members of his operational network to the sites.
Israeli forces simultaneously struck a nearby apartment belonging to another Hamas terrorist who infiltrated Israel during the October 7 massacre and was considered part of Odeh’s circle of operatives, the agencies added.
Before assuming the top military post, Odeh headed Hamas’s intelligence headquarters and was considered one of the central planners behind the October 7 massacre, overseeing intelligence collection and operational coordination tied to the attack and subsequent assaults against Israeli troops throughout the war.
The military said Odeh recently took over Hamas’s military wing after Israel killed his predecessor, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, in a strike on May 15.
“Odeh is one of the last senior commanders in Hamas’ military wing who took part in the planning and execution of the October 7 massacre and the management of combat operations against IDF troops,” the IDF and Shin Bet stated. “His elimination constitutes a significant blow to the Hamas terrorist organization’s rehabilitation efforts.”
Israeli media later reported that Odeh was the 15th of 16 senior Hamas-Gaza military figures tied to the planning and execution of the October 7 massacre to be eliminated since the war began, leaving only one senior commander from the original leadership echelon still alive.
The military later released footage it said showed the strike that killed Odeh in Gaza City.
Israeli officials have increasingly framed the campaign against Hamas leadership as part of a broader long-term operation targeting every individual connected to the October 7 atrocities.
A recent Wall Street Journal report revealed that Israel established a secret elite task force known as NILI shortly after the massacre to identify, track, kill, or capture every terrorist involved in the attack — from senior Hamas commanders to individual infiltrators who crossed into southern Israel during the onslaught.
According to the report, Israeli intelligence agencies compiled a database containing thousands of names tied to the massacre using facial recognition technology, intercepted communications, cellphone location data, social media footage, and interrogations of captured terrorists.
Israeli officials involved in the operation reportedly insisted that “no participant is deemed too insignificant” to escape accountability.
Odeh’s elimination came just 11 days after Israel killed al-Haddad, who himself had taken over Hamas’s military wing after the deaths of Mohammed Sinwar and longtime Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif.
Israeli officials have described the successive eliminations as part of a broader effort to dismantle Hamas’s remaining command structure and prevent the terror group from rebuilding its military capabilities during the ongoing ceasefire.
Later Wednesday, the IDF announced it had also struck two additional senior Hamas commanders in northern Gaza — identified as northern Gaza brigade commander Izz al-Din Bik and Imad Aslim, deputy commander of the Gaza City Brigade and commander of the Zeitoun Battalion — as Israel continued its campaign against the terror group’s remaining military leadership.
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
Read the full article here