Katz Warns Hamas Leaders Abroad Are 'In the Crosshairs' as Gaza Raids Continue
Israel's defence minister says Hamas leaders abroad will be targeted, confirming the killing of the group's northern Gaza branch head amid continuing strikes.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that Hamas leaders living outside Gaza would be targeted, while confirming that the Israeli military had killed the head of the group's northern Gaza Strip branch.
In remarks released by the defence ministry, Katz said Hamas figures overseas were "also in the crosshairs" and that those who played a central role in the October 7, 2023 attack should not "die peacefully in their beds."
He described the killing of the northern Gaza branch head as part of a wider campaign against Hamas's leadership, saying the operations were meant to weaken the group's ability to act against Israeli forces and to dismantle its capabilities, on the path to disarming it.
The announcement came as Israeli forces pressed on with operations across Gaza. Officials at Shifa Hospital said a woman was killed and her husband wounded when a strike hit a rooftop in Gaza City on Monday. The Israeli military said it was aware of the incident and was looking into its results.
A separate strike on a school in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza left one person critically injured, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. The military said it had targeted a "military operative" without giving further details.
More than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed since the Gaza ceasefire took effect nearly a year ago. Hamas has governed Gaza since taking control in 2007 and carried out the October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and triggered the war.