Israeli forces killed Izz al-Din al-Beik, head of Hamas's armed wing in northern Gaza, in an airstrike on an apartment building in Gaza City's Nasr neighbourhood, with a second person later dying of wounds at Al-Shifa Hospital [4][7][12]. A joint statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz described al-Beik as commander of Hamas's North Gaza Brigade and said he participated in planning attacks and recruiting operatives [6][10]. The Israeli military said it has killed at least 20 Hamas figures this month, including senior commanders and people it links to the October 7, 2023 attacks or the holding of Israeli hostages [4][7]. Two further strikes in Jabalia killed at least three people, and an Israeli drone strike and gunfire in the al-Nasr neighbourhood killed two Palestinians and wounded several others including children [4][8][13].
Hours after the strike, Defense Minister Katz said Hamas leaders abroad are now within Israel's targeting circle, stating that none responsible for the October 7 massacre should die peacefully in their beds [18]. Netanyahu and Katz vowed to keep pursuing Hamas operatives "dondequiera que se escondan" (wherever they hide) until Hamas ceases to exist in Gaza [10]. Minister of Internal Security Itamar Ben-Gvir said killings of Palestinians in Gaza should continue at a rate of at least 30 to 40 per day, extending beyond armed militants [27]. International law specialist Fannie Lafontaine of Université Laval said the strike in Doha was a bombing of one state against another, illegal under the UN Charter, violating territorial integrity and sovereignty [22]. Professor Yakov Rabkin of Université de Montréal said Israel benefits from total impunity and has never paid a price for such attacks [22].
Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani condemned Israel's campaign as unjustified, saying hospitals and schools have been targeted and that "nothing is justifying this," and adding that Israel struck Doha during negotiations [1]. Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Israel's continued occupation, settlement expansion, forced displacement, and attacks on Syria and Lebanon constitute grave violations of international law [11]. President Emmanuel Macron defended the two-state solution before the UN, asking what credibility the international community retains if it remains inactive on Gaza [21]. Japan's Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi condemned the expansion of Israeli ground operations in Gaza City [28]. Russia condemned the 2024 killing of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and blamed US efforts to monopolize regional processes for the deterioration [24]. The Türkiye Basın Federasyonu condemned Netanyahu and vowed to keep Gaza on the public agenda [25].
Netanyahu's office called Macron's remarks "L'absurdité grotesque" (a grotesque absurdity) [21]. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said it was hard to imagine a speech more disconnected from reality than Macron's [21]. Netanyahu said Israel rejects the US-led Board of Peace plan and that there will be no Palestinian state while he is prime minister [27]. Eight Islamic states — Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, Jordan, the UAE and Indonesia — condemned Israel's rejection of the peace plan and warned that blocking Palestinian statehood undermines any prospect of regional peace [27]. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Germany stands at Israel's side, while the German government criticized E1 settlement plans as unacceptable and pressed for the second phase of the peace plan [23].
Hamas confirmed al-Beik's death and described the killing as a cowardly assassination, while denying it was rebuilding its arsenal or planning attacks and accusing Israel of undermining the US-brokered ceasefire [4][7][12][18]. Gaza's Government Media Office reported 5,147 Israeli violations of the October 2025 ceasefire, with 1,421 Palestinians killed since the truce began [3]. The Israeli military reported 14 ceasefire violations between September 4 and 15 and said its strikes targeted Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad commanders who were rebuilding military capabilities [16]. Israel said it launched strikes in response to gunmen opening fire on Israeli troops near the armistice line, in which an Israeli soldier was severely injured [15]. Chinese Ambassador to the UN Fu Cong said a durable truce remains unrealized due to a lack of political will [26].
Three anonymous Israeli soldiers testified through Breaking the Silence about collateral-damage thresholds, describing an October 31, 2023 bombing in Jabalia approved with an estimated 300 civilian deaths to kill Hamas commander Ibrahim Biari, and a policy allowing up to 20 civilian deaths per drone strike [5]. Nadav Weiman, executive director of Breaking the Silence, said inhuman collateral-damage thresholds and permissive open-fire rules made civilian deaths integral to the campaign's reality [5]. The Israeli army spokesperson said the army attacks military objectives in accordance with international law and that assessments of foreseeable civilian damage aim to mitigate risk [5]. Netanyahu compared a documentary about the thresholds, titled "NAZA," to the launching of dozens of ballistic missiles against Israel and threatened to revoke the nationality of its makers, while Culture Minister Miki Zohar threatened to cut funding to cinemas that screen it [5].
Gaza authorities estimate more than 74,000 people have been killed since the start of the Israeli assault, with Palestinian authorities saying more than 8,000 bodies remain buried in wreckage [7][10]. UNOSAT found that 82 percent of Gaza's buildings were damaged, and the UN estimates 1.98 million Palestinians require shelter assistance [3]. Gaza's Government Media Office said Israel allowed only 35 percent of agreed aid trucks to enter [3]. COGAT said the Rafah crossing remained open and that it had not received necessary coordination details from the WHO [15]. A household survey published in The Lancet Global Health estimated 75,200 violent deaths in Gaza, finding the Gaza Ministry of Health figure conservative [14]. Egyptian Red Crescent convoys continued delivering aid through Rafah [17].
A UN independent expert committee and Amnesty International both concluded that Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip constitute genocide [6]. The UN Human Rights Office documented 1,732 settler-violence incidents in the West Bank and said Israeli authorities play a central role, raising concerns of ethnic cleansing and a coordinated policy of forced transfer [19]. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called on Israel to immediately stop settlement construction and expansion, evacuate all settlers, and end the occupation [19].
Israel's Hostages and Missing Families Forum called during the June 2025 Iran ceasefire for that truce to be extended to Gaza, saying a government that secured a ceasefire with Iran can end the war in Gaza [20]. Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, said at the time that the 627-day war is racing toward an endless war [20]. US special envoy Jared Kushner blamed Israel's upcoming election for the impasse over disarming Hamas [16]. A Board of Peace official said Netanyahu has fully entered campaign mode and that the panel does not expect meaningful leverage over Israel until after the October 27 election [16]. An Al Jazeera analysis examined whether the Gaza war has broken the bipartisan US consensus on Israel, noting the war reshaped primaries and campus politics [9].
Gaza civil-defence official Rami Al-Ayedi described recovering remains with minimal equipment after hours of work, retrieving bones, skulls and hair extremely difficult to identify [4][7]. Gaza resident Areej Farajallah, who lost her husband, said there are mixed feelings between relief, sadness, and pain, but that the fire in her heart has eased because her husband now has a grave her orphaned children can visit [4][7]. Israeli military movements were also reported in the Quneitra countryside of southern Syria, including an incursion with two vehicles and shelling of the Hamriya area [2].