Eurasia Press & News
Hamas has reportedly selected longstanding member Mohammed Odeh to lead the group’s so-called military wing, the Al Qassam Brigades. The news was first reported by Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat on May 18, after Israel eliminated the previous chief of Al Qassam, Izz al Din al Haddad, in a May 15 targeted strike in Gaza City.
Odeh was in charge of Hamas’s intelligence headquarters during the October 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel and remains one of the last senior Hamas members still alive following the subsequent war in Gaza. He has reportedly survived numerous Israeli assassination attempts, both during the war and preceding it.
The assassination of Haddad came after a new document released by the IDF, reviewed and reported on by Israel’s Channel 13, assessed that Hamas is producing hundreds of improvised explosive devices (IEDS) and anti-tank rockets each month. The group is also smuggling weapons and dual-use products into Gaza and conducting training exercises in the areas of the enclave it controls. In addition, Hamas has reportedly been collecting taxes of up to 30 percent from merchants selling humanitarian aid that enters Gaza.
As the group looks to reconstitute, Palestinian terrorists violated the ceasefire in Gaza 19 times between May 6 and May 20, according to IDF reports.
On May 13, the IDF confirmed the elimination of Hamza Sharbatsi, a Hamas commander in the group’s Shajaiyah battalion who was planning “terrorist plots against IDF forces operating” near the Yellow Line, which demarcates Israeli-held territory from territory held by Hamas in Gaza. According to the announcement, the strike occurred on May 6.
On May 7, the IDF said it had eliminated “armed terrorists from the Hamas terror organization while they were operating in a headquarters in the northern Gaza Strip” and were planning attacks against “IDF forces and civilians of the State of Israel.”
On May 9, the IDF announced that the previous day, the IDF had “destroyed” a weapons storage and explosives production facility in northern Gaza. The site was reportedly being used by both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad to procure and store weapons “intended to harm IDF forces operating in the Yellow Line area and civilians of the State of Israel.”
On May 10, the IDF said that an Israeli Air Force “remotely piloted aircraft, with the assistance of the Kfir Brigade, struck a terrorist suspected of planting an explosive charge in southern Gaza.”
In two separate incidents on May 9 and 10, the IDF reported that it had struck “armed Nukhba terrorists from the Hamas terror organization who were” planning imminent attacks on the IDF in southern Gaza and hit two individuals who posed “an immediate threat” to Israeli soldiers.
On May 12, the IDF reported that the previous day, May 11, in three separate incidents, “forces of the 252nd Division operating in northern Gaza” had identified “five terrorists who carried out suspicious activities on the ground and a terrorist who was observing IDF forces, in a manner that posed an immediate threat to them.” The Israeli Air Force subsequently targeted all of the individuals.
Also on May 12, the IDF reported that the previous day, in two incidents, Israeli forces operating in southern Gaza identified “three terrorists who crossed the Yellow Line and approached forces in a manner that posed an immediate threat to them.” The IDF added that “in all the incidents, the Air Force and (IDF) forces attacked the terrorists and eliminated four of them.”
On May 14, the IDF said that it had eliminated a “terrorist who crossed the Yellow Line and approached the forces in a manner that posed an immediate threat.”
On May 15, the IDF eliminated Izz al Din al Haddad, who the Israeli military said was using his role as head of the Al Qassam Brigades to “rebuild Hamas’s capabilities” and plan “numerous terror attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops.”
On May 16 and 17, the IDF said that, in two separate incidents, “the 188th Brigade’s combat team” and “Kfir Brigade’s combat team,” operating in the southern and central Gaza Strip respectively, “identified a terrorist” approaching the forces, posing an “immediate threat.” In both incidents, the individuals were eliminated.
On May 18, the IDF announced that the previous day, forces had eliminated “a Hamas terrorist who planned to carry out sniper attacks against IDF forces in the immediate timeframe.”
On May 19, the IDF reported that the previous day, “combat teams of the 188th Brigade operating in [the] southern Gaza Strip identified a Hamas terrorist who crossed the yellow line and approached the forces in a manner that posed an immediate threat.” The Israeli Air Force eliminated the individual, according to the announcement, which noted that he had been a part of the October 7 attacks and had infiltrated Israeli territory.
On May 20, the IDF said that it had “destroyed … a weapons warehouse of the Hamas terror organization in the center of the Gaza Strip.” According to the announcement, “The weapons were intended to harm IDF forces operating in the Yellow Line area and civilians of the State of Israel.”
Also on May 20, the IDF reported that “combat team forces of the ‘Crusher’ Brigade (14) operating in the northern Gaza Strip identified a terrorist who crossed the yellow line and approached the forces in a manner that posed an immediate threat.” The individual was eliminated, according to the statement.
