Israel pressed ahead with targeted killings of senior Hamas and Islamic Jihad figures in Gaza, citing recent attacks on its forces, even as a ceasefire agreement entered its second phase, and plans were announced for a technocratic body to administer the enclave.
On Thursday, Israel killed two senior figures from the military wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, along with other activists, in a series of air strikes on homes in several areas of Gaza that killed 12 Palestinians.
The first strike targeted Saeed al-Jarou, an activist in the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, who worked in military manufacturing, sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Another Palestinian was killed alongside him when the courtyard of the Jarou family home in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza was hit. The house had already been damaged in an earlier strike a month ago that killed Saeed’s brother, who was also a Qassam activist.
Less than an hour later, another strike hit the home of Mohammed al-Houli, a senior commander in the Qassam Brigades, killing him along with a young man and a child.
Al-Houli held several positions within Qassam, including deputy commander of the Central Brigade and head of the intelligence apparatus.
He previously served as commander of the Field Control Forces, according to sources.
Hours later, Israeli aircraft struck the home of Ashraf al-Khatib, a leader in the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing him, his wife, and her brother.
Sources said al-Khatib was responsible for the rocket unit in the central Gaza area and was among the first to fire rockets toward Tel Aviv during the 2012 war. He was also an officer in the Palestinian Authority security services.
Shortly afterward, an Israeli strike targeted Amjad Shamlakh, a Hamas activist, as he was passing through the Nabulsi area in the Sheikh Ajlin neighborhood south of Gaza City. Shamlakh worked as a nurse at Al-Shifa Medical Complex. His brother, a Qassam activist, was killed earlier in the war.
The Israeli army said it, together with the Shin Bet security agency, had attacked Hamas and Islamic Jihad members following what it described as a violation of the ceasefire earlier this week in western Rafah in southern Gaza.
It said it views any breach of the agreement with utmost seriousness and will continue to act against any attempt to advance what it called terrorist plots.
On Friday, Israeli forces killed an elderly woman after what witnesses described as indiscriminate fire from Israeli vehicles toward displacement tents south of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
A child was also killed by fire from a drone in the town of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza.
The death toll in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, has risen to 71,457, including 465 killed since the ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, 2025.
Expansion of the “Yellow Line”
In related field developments, satellite images showed that over the past three months, since the ceasefire was announced, the Israeli army has expanded the so-called Yellow Line zone it occupies in Gaza, which now covers more than half of the enclave.
The army has advanced hundreds of meters into areas that were officially meant, under a plan by US President Donald Trump, to remain under Hamas control.
Satellite imagery cited by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz showed the army continuing to demolish buildings in Jabalia and the Shujaiya neighborhood, both inside and outside the Yellow Line zone.
According to the London-based organization Forensic Architecture, Israeli forces have established 13 military sites in Gaza since the ceasefire was announced and until mid-December, including two large military positions in the Jabalia area. These elevated sites overlook vast distances.
Buildings were destroyed, areas were evacuated, and heavy engineering equipment was used to construct high earth berms to monitor the entire northern Gaza area.
The Israeli army deliberately places unclear markers for the Yellow Line, setting yellow concrete blocks hundreds of meters apart, making it impossible for Palestinians to determine where the occupied zone begins as they attempt to reach their land and homes.
Israeli forces then open fire indiscriminately, killing hundreds, including more than 100 children.
The army frequently shifts the concrete blocks westward into areas under Hamas control.
Analysis of satellite imagery along the Yellow Line shows discrepancies between the location of the concrete blocks and the official Yellow Line as defined by Israeli military data.
The yellow concrete blocks appear to be positioned about 300 meters west of the official Yellow Line shown on Israeli army maps.
The destruction of buildings in recent months adds to the erasure of entire cities in Gaza during the war.
According to the latest report by the United Nations satellite center, the Israeli army has destroyed or irreparably damaged more than 80 percent of buildings in the enclave, triggering a massive displacement crisis.
Hundreds of thousands are now living in tents, struggling to survive amid severe weather, strong winds, and seawater flooding tent areas, destroying shelters and contributing to the spread of disease.
