Israeli strikes kill five in Gaza City and Turkish aid director in Deir al Balah

Strike targeting Hamas official in Gaza City

On Saturday, 3 October 2026, at approximately 1:30 a.m., Israeli forces launched an airstrike on an apartment in the Al Asala building near the Haider roundabout in Gaza City's Remal neighbourhood. The Israeli military and the Israel Security Agency stated that the operation targeted Ali Ahmed al-Amudi, the acting political deputy head of Hamas in Gaza and an aide to former leader Yahya Sinwar. Israeli authorities accused al-Amudi of directing militant activity and reorganizing Hamas to resume hostilities. The military confirmed the strike but stated it was still assessing whether al-Amudi was killed or injured, while initial reports indicated he survived the attack.

The strike hit the ground floor of the residential building, killing five people and injuring several others. Civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal stated that two missiles struck the apartment, causing widespread damage to the structure. The deceased included four women and one man: Dr. Yasmin al-Bubu, her mother Halum al-Bubu, Bilal Ali Jalil Odeh (21), and two Greek Orthodox Christian women, Maysa Abu Daoud (56) and her daughter Mary al-Najjar (36). The two Christian women volunteered with displaced people sheltering at the Holy Family Church.

We are exhausted by this war and have endured so much. For almost three years, we have been living through the same destruction, the same grief and the same war.

Funerals and community response

Funerals for Maysa Abu Daoud and Mary al-Najjar took place on Saturday at Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza City's Old City. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, offered condolences to the local Christian community, which comprises fewer than 1,000 people across the enclave. Ramzi Khoury, chairman of Palestine's Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs, called the deaths a painful loss for the church and its parishioners. Relative Ihab Ayyad addressed mourners during the service.

We did not throw stones, we did not launch rockets. When one of our children holds a stone, they call them a terrorist, a murderer. Yet they have the most powerful weapons and destroy everything.

Aid worker killed in Deir al Balah

On Sunday morning, 4 October 2026, Israeli forces conducted another airstrike against a vehicle in Deir al Balah in central Gaza. The strike killed Saqer al-Qaisi, the local director of the Turkish humanitarian organisation Deniz Feneri Association, according to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. The emergency services reported that ten other people were injured in the strike. The Israeli military stated that the vehicle strike targeted a Hamas operative, without clarifying whether al-Qaisi was the intended target or linked to the militant faction.

Additional casualties occurred elsewhere in the enclave on Sunday. In northern Gaza, an Israeli airstrike in Beit Lahia injured four people, who were transported to Shifa Hospital. In a separate incident, a six-year-old girl, Suha Nasser, died from gunshot injuries sustained two weeks earlier when gunfire struck her family's tent.

Ceasefire strain and casualty figures

The recent strikes occur despite a United States-brokered ceasefire that took effect in October 2025. Under the initial framework, the agreement envisioned a phased withdrawal of Israeli troops alongside the disarmament of Hamas, though negotiators have not finalized terms for either process. Both parties trade accusations over breaches: Israel maintains that Hamas is actively rearming, while Hamas denies rebuilding its arsenal and accuses Israel of systematic violations.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 1,445 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli military actions during the ceasefire period. The Israeli military reports that four of its soldiers have died in the same timeframe. The cumulative death toll in Gaza since 7 October 2023 exceeds 74,228 people, following the Hamas-led attack that killed 1,200 people in Israel and resulted in the capture of 251 hostages.