JERUSALEM/GAZA, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) — The Israeli military said Saturday that it had killed two commanders in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s rocket array in two strikes in Gaza City, while Palestinian sources said a separate Israeli strike killed five people in the city early Saturday.
According to an Israeli military statement, the two men targeted on Friday were Ahmed Mahmoud Harb Ramlawi, a commander in the rocket array of the Islamic Jihad’s Shuja’iyya Battalion, and Munir Ibrahim Masr, the head of an anti-tank missile cell in the group’s military wing.
The Israeli military claimed that, both recently and throughout the war, the two men had worked to restore the organization’s military capabilities, which it described as a systematic violation of the ceasefire agreement.
The military added that measures were taken before the strikes to reduce the risk of harm to civilians, including the use of precision-guided munitions and aerial surveillance.
Israel’s state-run Kan TV News reported that the Israeli military had attempted to assassinate senior Hamas official Ali Al-Amoudi during an overnight airstrike in the Gaza Strip. Neither the Israeli military nor Hamas immediately confirmed the report.
Separately, five Palestinians, including four women, were killed early Saturday in an Israeli strike on a residential apartment west of Gaza City, Palestinian sources said.
The sources said the victims were taken to Al-Shifa Medical Complex after the ground-floor apartment in the Al-Asala building was struck. Several other people were injured.
Residents and eyewitnesses told Xinhua that the strike caused extensive damage to the building, which housed several families.
A resident said search and rescue teams were working to determine whether additional people were trapped under the rubble.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike or specify its intended target.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the strike that killed the five Palestinians, describing it in a statement as part of what it called continuing Israeli “war crimes” against Palestinians.
Gaza-based health authorities reported on Saturday that hospitals in the Gaza Strip had received seven fatalities and 20 injuries over the past 48 hours.
According to the health authorities, 1,445 people have been killed and 5,072 wounded since the ceasefire took effect in October 2025, while the total toll since Oct. 7, 2023, stands at 74,228 killed and 175,188 wounded. ■