As elections near, Israel is increasing 'assassinations' in Gaza

Israeli raids in the Gaza Strip are no longer limited to targeting sites or areas that Israel claims are linked to Hamas. Self-declared "assassinations" of Palestinian leaders and operatives have become increasingly frequent, even as Israel claims to that the so-called ceasefire remains in effect.

On the ground, however, there is no actual ceasefire for the Palestinian community.

On Wednesday, five Palestinians were killed and 15 others injured in an Israeli strike targeting a civilian vehicle in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood, southwest of Gaza City, according to Palestinian medical sources.

In a separate incident, four Palestinians, including two children, were injured in an Israeli strike on a tent sheltering displaced people west of Khan Younis.

Meanwhile, three others were wounded, two of them critically, by Israeli gunfire in the Abu al-Ajeen area, southeast of Deir al-Balah.

These attacks came a day after Israel's announced the assassination of Izz al-Din al-Beik, commander of the northern Gaza brigade of the al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing, in a raid targeting an apartment in Gaza City's al-Nasr neighbourhood.

The strike coincided with an attack on al-Quds Brigades commander Musab al-Balbisi, who Palestinian sources reported was critically wounded.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz claimed that al-Beik had been involved in planning attacks and recruiting fighters.

The al-Qassam Brigades, however, announced his death in what it described as an Israeli "assassination operation", saying he was a member of its General Military Council and commander of the northern Gaza brigade.

**Ongoing assassinations **

Israel claimed its operations target Hamas members accused of planning attacks or rebuilding the movement's military capabilities.

Hamas has denied attempting to rebuild its arsenal or launch attacks, instead accusing Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement.

Since the agreement came into force last October, Israel has announced the killing of several senior al-Qassam Brigades commanders, including Izz al-Din al-Haddad, Raed Saad, Nayel Abu Obeid, Mohammed al-Yazouri, Mohammed Naeem Jundiya and Shadi Abu Hasira, in addition to al-Beik, whose death was announced on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Katz also threatened to target Hamas leaders outside the Gaza Strip, saying that they too were "within the scope of targeting".

Mustafa Ibrahim, a Gaza-based political analyst, told The New Arab that the increase of attacks is significant given the approaching elections in Israel, but cautioned against assuming an absolute and direct connection between the two developments.

"Netanyahu's statements had revived discussion about the possibility of renewed escalation on one of Israel's fronts, potentially reigniting the Gaza front, and whether this could affect the country's electoral timetable," he said. "At this stage, there is no information proving a direct connection between the two matters."

He said, however, that bringing security and war back to the forefront of public discourse could shift the Israeli political debate away from accountability for the failures surrounding the Hamas-led 7 October attack and towards external risks and perceived threats.

Ibrahim argued the Israeli election campaign could enter a phase in which security becomes central to the political battle, potentially encouraging a focus on external threats while pushing questions about the 7 October failures and political accountability into the background.

He stressed, however, that any connection between the security rhetoric, renewed military escalation and a possible postponement of elections remained a matter of analysis rather than an established fact.

'We no longer know who the target is'

These political and security calculations are far from abstract for Gaza's Palestinian residents.

The repeated deadly and horrific strikes by Israel have created a pervasive sense of uncertainty, with civilians saying they can no longer distinguish between locations considered potential military targets and those they might reasonably regard as safe.

Mohammed Abdullah, a resident of Gaza City, told *TNA *that civilians were living in a state of constant fear.

"We hear about a specific person being targeted, only to discover that civilians have been killed or wounded. We no longer know who is being targeted or where the next strike might land," he said.

He pointed out that the ceasefire had done little to dispel the fear among residents.

"People do not feel the war is over. The shelling continues, the gunfire continues, and the assassinations continue. Everyone fears being in the wrong place at the wrong time," he added.

Sally Abu Shawish, from central Gaza, told *TNA *that fear had become part of daily life, particularly for displaced people living in tents and other makeshift shelters.

"Even when we go out to buy food or water, we constantly wonder if the place is safe," she said. "No one knows what a ceasefire means anymore, because the killing hasn't stopped."

The continued targeting of vehicles and individuals in densely populated areas has heightened concerns among displaced Palestinians, many of whom have already been forced to move repeatedly during the war and have few options for finding safer locations.

The Israeli announcements that it will continue pursuing figures it identifies as Hamas leaders, both inside and outside Gaza, have added to those fears. For civilians living in crowded areas, the targeting of a particular individual can have consequences far beyond the stated target.

Gaza-based political analyst Ahed Ferwana told *TNA *that the recent developments reflected what he described as a renewed Israeli pattern of targeting gatherings, vehicles and individuals in Gaza, alongside increasingly explicit rhetoric about pursuing Hamas leaders.

He said the occupation has resumed targeting civilian gatherings, describing the incident as a "massacre" amid reports of the initial casualty toll.

The series of targeted killings, he added, indicated that Israel did not view the ceasefire as the conclusion of its military campaign against Hamas, but rather as a framework within which it continued operations that it considered necessary to prevent the movement from rebuilding its capabilities.