Israeli military statements issued on Wednesday said its forces had targeted senior militants in the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, accusing them of involvement in the abduction and detention of Israeli captives, both alive and dead, following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
Israel has continued pursuing those it says took part in the attack, as well as those involved in holding Israeli captives or the bodies of those killed. Palestinians describe the campaign as retaliatory, saying it has at times extended to the families of those involved.
The Israeli army said it had targeted Bilal Abu Assi, a commander of an elite company in Hamas’ armed wing, the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades, in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Abu Assi survived the assassination attempt, which killed two girls and a paramedic after a tent was struck in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis. The sources said Abu Assi had survived more than eight assassination attempts during the war.
The Israeli military accused Abu Assi of leading his unit in an assault on Kibbutz Nir Oz, east of Khan Younis, and of being responsible for abducting and holding the bodies of Israelis taken during the Oct. 7 attack.
In a separate statement, the Israeli army said it had killed Ali al-Razaina, the commander of Islamic Jihad’s northern Gaza brigade, in an air strike that hit a tent in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. Sources within the movement confirmed that Razaina was killed alongside his daughter Ghada, the only remaining member of his immediate family after two of his children and his wife were killed in earlier strikes he had survived.
The sources said Razaina was responsible for a series of attacks against Israeli forces during the war, had been wounded several times, and had previously evaded arrest attempts by Israeli forces while operating in northern Gaza.
The Israeli army accused Razaina of abducting and holding Israeli captives, leading multiple attacks, and recently working to rebuild the group’s infrastructure.
Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Razaina had succeeded in transferring several Israeli captives from northern Gaza to the south during the war and had sought to keep many of them alive to hand them over in prisoner exchanges with Israel.
The Israeli military also announced the killing of Mohammed al-Habil, a commander in Hamas’ Beach Battalion, accusing him of abducting an Israeli female soldier from the Nahal Oz military site east of Gaza City and later killing her. Her body was later found near the Shifa medical complex, according to the Israeli statement.
Sources said al-Habil had survived two previous assassination attempts, one of them near his family home in the Beach refugee camp in western Gaza, where he was eventually killed.
Field sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that leaders of the armed factions believe Israel will continue targeting their operatives on such grounds, describing this as a clear breach of the ceasefire reached in October 2025. The sources said the situation could derail the agreement, even though the factions are not seeking such an outcome.
Palestinian concerns over a collapse of the agreement stem from fears that Israel could assassinate senior figures such as Izz el-Din al-Haddad, a commander in the Qassam Brigades, or others of similar rank who are seen as having led the Oct. 7 attack.
The sources said there are other leaders and operatives linked to the attack and to the detention or handover of Israeli captives, both alive and dead, who remain alive, and that Israel appears determined to settle scores with them.
“If Israel insists on acting this way, that means we are facing a series of escalations that will not stop, and this could lead to another explosion in the situation,” the sources said.
This appears to align with a report published by Israel’s Haaretz newspaper last Friday, which said the Israeli government’s policy in Gaza currently rests on a single hope: that US efforts in the coming months to impose a new security and political reality in the enclave will collapse.
At that point, the report said, US President Donald Trump could give Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the green light to attempt to regain military control of Gaza.
