Israeli assessments are indicating that the country failed to assassinate a senior Hamas figure Ali al-Amoudi, but the Israeli targeted attack in besieged Gaza left five people dead, including a Christian mother and her daughter.
"Assessments are leaning toward the failure of the attempt to assassinate Ali al-Amoudi, a prominent leader in Hamas' political wing in Gaza, last night," Israeli Army Radio said on Saturday evening of the attack that marked another breach of truce agreed by Israel.
Israel's Channel 12 said it was too early to reach a definitive conclusion, but Israel was struggling to obtain confirmation that the assassination attempt had succeeded.
Earlier on Saturday, Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported that the army had attempted to assassinate al-Amoudi in a strike overnight Friday into Saturday.
It described him as Hamas' de facto leader in Gaza and a leading candidate to formally head the movement in anticipated secret internal elections.
Reports from Gaza indicated that five people had been killed, but al-Amoudi's name was absent from the list of fatalities, KAN said. His fate remained unclear.
Failed target
Hamas sources told Anadolu agency that al-Amoudi headed the movement's media department and was a member of its political bureau before the Israeli genocidal war began on October 2023.
Following the killings of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and his deputy Rawhi Mushtaha in 2024, al-Amoudi became deputy to Khalil al-Hayya, who was then heading the movement in Gaza.
After al-Hayya was elected head of Hamas' political bureau in July 2026, al-Amoudi assumed responsibility for running the movement in Gaza as acting leader pending the election of a successor.
Five Palestinians, including four women, two of them Christians, were killed and six others wounded in the strike on a residential flat in western Gaza City, according to a medical source.
Those killed included Maysa Abu Daoud, 55, and her daughter Maria Abu Daoud, 36, as well as Yasmin al-Boubou, 48, Halloum al-Boubou, 23, and Bilal Ali Ouda, 20.
The pinpoint attack came amid continuing Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement in effect since October 10, 2025.
Gaza's Health Ministry said Israeli violations had killed 1,439 Palestinians and wounded 5,052 others as of Thursday.
Israel has killed three percent of Gaza's Christian population since the start of its genocide in October 2023, the Palestinian officials say.
Since October 2023, Israel has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians and wounded over 175,000 in Gaza in its genocidal war, according to Palestinian figures, while around 90 percent of the territory's infrastructure has been destroyed.
Analysts warn that the recorded death toll is an undercount, estimating the actual figure could reach 200,000.
