Israel says Hamas military spokesman Abu Obeida killed in Gaza air strike amid Gaza City takeover Nidal al-Mughrabi and Lili BayerReutersMon, 1 September 2025 4:00AMCommentsComments
Israel says it has killed Abu Obeida, the chief military spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing in Gaza, during a series of air strikes.
The strike, which took place over the weekend, is the latest in a campaign that has seen several high-profile Hamas members targeted.
Hamas has not issued an official response to the claim. Abu Obeida would join the ranks of senior operatives killed by Israeli forces in recent months, including top leaders from allied groups in the region.
Abu Obeida, known for his masked televised statements and fiery declarations after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, was singled out in a social post by Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz.
“Hamas terror spokesperson Abu Obeida was eliminated in Gaza,” he said.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously indicated he was a target.
According to the Israeli military, Abu Obeida’s real name was Hudaifa al-Kahlut. Since the beginning of the war, he had regularly spoken on behalf of Hamas, appearing in military fatigues with his face always covered.
Israel claims this operation continues its effort to dismantle Hamas’s leadership and force the release of hostages, noting that their offensive in Gaza City is expected to commence in the coming weeks.
The strike on Abu Obeida followed the killing of the principal leaders from Yemen’s Houthi rebel movement, a group that has engaged Israel by firing missiles and targeting shipping in solidarity with Gaza. The Houthis confirmed the death of their prime minister and other senior figures after Israeli attacks late last week.
Sunday morning in Gaza, smoke lingered over city neighborhoods as local residents like Ashraf Abu Amsha described scenes of “horror, fear, destruction, and fire erupted in all the tents” after another night of bombing.
Israeli forces have been preparing for a ground assault on Gaza City, the territory’s largest urban centre, stepping up bombardments, cutting the city off, and issuing warnings for civilians to evacuate.
Israeli forces pounded the suburbs of Gaza City overnight on Saturday from the air and ground, destroying homes and forcing more families to flee as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet readied plans for a major offensive to seize the city.
Local health authorities reported that at least 30 people were killed Sunday by Israeli strikes and gunfire, including 13 who approached an aid site in central Gaza, and two more in a home in Gaza City. The military said it was reviewing the reports.
Residents of Sheikh Radwan, one of the largest neighbourhoods of Gaza City, said the territory had been under Israeli tank shelling and air strikes throughout Saturday and on Sunday, forcing families to seek shelter in the western parts of the city.
The Israeli military has gradually escalated its operations around Gaza City in the past three weeks, and on Friday, it ended temporary pauses in the area that had allowed for aid deliveries, designating it a “dangerous combat zone”.
“They are crawling into the heart of the city where hundreds of thousands are sheltering, from the east, north, and south, while bombing those areas from the air and ground to scare people to leave,” said Rezik Salah, a father of two, from Sheikh Radwan.
An Israeli official said Netanyahu’s security cabinet will convene on Sunday evening to discuss the next stages of the planned offensive to seize Gaza City, which he has described as Hamas’s last bastion.
A full-scale offensive is not expected to start for weeks.
Israel says it wants to evacuate the civilian population before moving more ground forces in.
On Saturday, Red Cross head Mirjana Spoljaric said an evacuation from the city would provoke a massive population displacement that no other area in the Gaza Strip is equipped to absorb, amid severe shortages of food, shelter, and medical supplies.
“People who have relatives in the south left to stay with them. Others, including myself, didn’t find a space as Deir Al-Balah and Mawasi are overcrowded,” said Ghada, a mother of five from the city’s Sabra neighbourhood.
About half of the enclave’s more than two million people are presently in Gaza City.
Several thousand were estimated to have left the city for central and southern areas of the enclave, according to local sources.
Israel’s military has warned its political leaders that the offensive is endangering hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza.
Protests in Israel calling for an end to the war and the release of the hostages have intensified in the past few weeks.
Large crowds demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening, and hostages’ families protested outside the homes of ministers on Sunday morning.
The war began with a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which about 1200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and 251 taken hostage.
Twenty of the remaining 48 hostages are believed to still be alive.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 63,000 people, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, and it has plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis and left much of it in ruins.
On Sunday, the Gaza health ministry said seven more people had died of malnutrition and starvation in the enclave, raising the number of such deaths to 339 people, including 124 children, since the war began.
Israel disputes the fatality figures issued by the health ministry in the Hamas-run strip.
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