The Israeli authorities confirmed this Tuesday the death of a high-ranking commander of a brigade of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in a bombing carried out in the north of the Gaza Strip, despite the ceasefire agreed upon in October 2025 following the proposal presented by the United States regarding the future of the coastal enclave.
In a joint statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz identified the deceased as Ezeldín al Bik, "commander of Hamas's Northern Brigade."
Both leaders emphasized that the Islamist leader "was involved in terrorist plans against Israeli forces and worked to recruit operatives for the organization," while expressing their support for the Army for its "decisive action" against "Hamas commanders and terrorists."
In the statement, they also warned: "We will continue to pursue and hunt down all the terrorists of the organization, from their commanders to the last of their operatives, wherever they hide, until Hamas ceases to exist in Gaza."
The Israeli Army detailed that Al Bik took command of the Northern Brigade after the assassination in November 2023 of Ahmed Ghandur --almost a month after the start of the offensive on Gaza following the attacks of October 7-- after having previously served as an Intelligence officer of the same brigade.
According to the military statement, "as part of his duties, he was responsible for managing the activities of the brigade's terrorists and gave them orders to promote and execute terrorist plans against elements of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and citizens of the State of Israel."
The Army added that Al Bik "worked to try to restore the capabilities of the brigade, which suffered critical damage during the war," and emphasized that the leader "posed an imminent threat to IDF forces and Israeli citizens, which is why he was eliminated in a precision bombing."
The death of Al Bik, also known as 'Abú Hamza', has also been reported by the Palestinian newspaper 'Filastin', which indicated that Israel fired three missiles at the apartment where he was located, in the city of Gaza, and recalled that he had already managed to survive in May another assassination attempt by Israel.
With his death, Al Bik becomes the third brigade commander of Hamas whose death is made public by Israel in recent weeks, after the leaders of the Rafah Brigade, on September 15, and of the Khan Yunis Brigade, four days earlier.
Meanwhile, the authorities of the Gaza Strip, controlled by Hamas, raised on Monday the number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks to more than 1,420 since the ceasefire came into effect, and estimate more than 74,000 fatalities since the beginning of the offensive triggered after the attacks of October 7, 2023.