Gladness Gideon
A senior Hamas spokesman, Abdul Latif al-Qanou, was killed Thursday in an Israeli air strike targeting a tent in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza, according to a statement released by the group.
The attack marks the latest in a series of targeted killings of high-ranking Hamas officials since Israel resumed its military operations in the coastal enclave.
The airstrike, described by Hamas as a “direct” hit, comes amid intensifying hostilities following the collapse of a fragile ceasefire that had offered a brief period of relative calm. That truce ended on March 18, prompting Israel to restart its bombardment campaign across Gaza.
The Gaza health ministry, run by Hamas, reports that at least 855 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire ended. Civilian casualties continue to mount as strikes pound densely populated areas.
Al-Qanou’s death adds to a growing list of Hamas officials eliminated in recent Israeli operations. Last week, the Israeli military confirmed the killing of Rashid Jahjouh, head of Hamas’s internal security agency. In prior days, Hamas acknowledged the deaths of several other top figures, including Essam al-Dalis, the group’s de facto head of government in Gaza since June 2021, and Mahmud Abu Watfa, head of the interior ministry.
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Israel also claimed responsibility for the airstrike that killed Dalis, labeling him a senior member of Hamas’s political bureau.
Additional casualties among the group’s leadership include political bureau members Salah al-Bardawil and Yasser Harb.
In a statement Thursday, Hamas vowed to continue its resistance despite the losses, saying, “The occupation’s targeting of the movement’s leaders and spokespersons will not break our will.”
The escalation underscores Israel’s ongoing strategy of decapitating Hamas’s leadership structure while international calls for de-escalation persist. The humanitarian situation in Gaza, already dire, continues to worsen amid the renewed conflict.