ISRAEL crowed today that it had killed the new leader of Hamas’s military wing in a bombing raid on Gaza City, violating the ceasefire it agreed with the Palestinian resistance organisation.

Defence Minister Israel Katz said the air raid killed Mohammed Odeh yesterday. Odeh’s family confirmed he had been killed, but did not say if he had held a Hamas position. Two others, so far unidentified, were killed alongside him in the strike on the eve of the major Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

Hamas itself has yet to comment. The previous leader of its military wing Izz al-Din al-Haddad was killed in a bombing raid on May 16.

Mr Katz spoke as if the ceasefire struck with Hamas last October was irrelevant. He said Odeh had helped plan the October 7 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, which killed 1,139 Israelis and took 251 hostage.

“We pledged to eliminate everyone who led the October 7 massacre and this is what we will do: they are all bound to die, everywhere,” he posted on X.

Israeli violations of the ceasefire are routine. It has killed at least 880 Palestinians since agreeing the ceasefire. Four occupying Israeli soldiers have also been killed in Gaza in this period.

The level of direct killing is much reduced from before the truce — since October 2023 Gaza’s Health Ministry has recorded 72,700 Palestinian deaths from Israeli military action — but Gaza’s besieged residents continue to die from disease and starvation as well, with Israel severely restricting imports of food, medicine and building materials.

The UN says 90 per cent of Gaza’s population have lost their homes. The small territory — about the size of the Isle of Wight — is even more crowded than before, with Israel having established military occupation over more than 60 per cent of the Strip, including most of its farmland.

Across Gaza, while people gathered to pray on the Eid holiday, the usual celebrations were barely observed.

“There’s no Eid,” displaced woman Ayda al-Banna told a reporter in Gaza City. “My children were killed.”