Hamas official Ghazi Hamad confirmed on Sunday, 4 October 2026, that Hamas leader Ali al-Amoudi survived an Israeli assassination attempt targeting a residential building west of Gaza City, warning that continued assassination operations threatened the ceasefire agreement and risked causing it to collapse.
Hamad said reports received by the movement confirmed al-Amoudi’s survival, adding that the Israeli forces had violated the Gaza agreement by continuing to carry out assassination operations. He held the United States responsible for working to protect the agreement and called on the US administration to pressure Israel to halt the operations. The strike targeted a flat inside a residential building west of Gaza City during the night from Friday to Saturday.
Casualties from the strike on the residential building
Al-Shifa Hospital said the bombardment killed five Palestinians, including four women, while people remained missing under the rubble after parts of the building were damaged and a fire broke out at the site.
The Israeli military and the Shin Bet internal security service confirmed carrying out the strike, saying its target was Ali al-Amoudi, Hamas’s deputy head of the political bureau in the Gaza Strip, while he was inside a flat they claimed was being used for military activities. The first Israeli statement said the operation’s results were still being examined. The Israeli military said it had used precision munitions and taken measures to reduce harm to civilians.
Al-Amoudi was accused of participating in decisions linked to the 7 October 2023 attack and of working to rebuild Hamas’s capabilities — allegations made by the Israeli side. Estimates published later by Israeli media indicated that the attempt to assassinate al-Amoudi had probably failed, after no confirmation of his death could be obtained several hours after the strike.
Hamas’s announcement that he had survived settled the movement’s position on his fate after uncertainty surrounding the attack’s outcome. Al-Amoudi is one of the most prominent Hamas leaders inside the Gaza Strip. Movement sources describe him as one of the main officials managing its affairs in the strip, after his responsibilities expanded during the war and a number of political and military leaders were killed.
According to informed Hamas sources, al-Amoudi previously held media and organisational responsibilities and served as head of the office of the movement’s former leader in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar, after Sinwar was elected in 2017. He also headed the movement’s media department in Gaza from mid-2021, before taking on broader leadership roles during the war.
The same sources said al-Amoudi played a central role in managing the movement inside the strip after Sinwar was killed in October 2024. He then became acting head of Hamas in Gaza after Khalil al-Hayya was elected head of the movement’s political bureau in July 2026, pending the selection of a new head of the movement in the strip.
Al-Amoudi had spent about 20 years in Israeli prisons before being released in October 2011 as part of the exchange deal under which Hamas released Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in return for the release of 1027 Palestinian prisoners.
Disputes over implementing the ceasefire agreement
The assassination attempt comes as the ceasefire agreement, in force since October 2025, faces disputes over moving to its next stages. Hamas accuses Israel of failing to implement its commitments regarding halting attacks, withdrawal and the entry of aid, while Israel says any further withdrawal requires the movement to disarm.
The roadmap announced by US President Donald Trump on 30 July 2026 calls for an end to military operations, the transfer of civil and security responsibilities to a Palestinian committee to administer Gaza, and the gradual storage of heavy weapons and disabling of production sites and tunnels, alongside a phased withdrawal by the Israeli forces.
The plan also includes deploying a temporary international force to monitor the ceasefire, helping train the Palestinian police and ensuring the delivery of aid, with movement between the stages conditional on verifying implementation of earlier commitments. Hamas announced its acceptance of the roadmap, while Israel expressed security reservations about the withdrawal and disarmament mechanism.
