Israeli strikes in Gaza kill three in operation to seize Hamas figure: officials

Heavy Israeli bombardment killed three people in Gaza City on Tuesday (September 1, 2026), Palestinian health officials said, in what both sides described as an Israeli-backed ground operation to seize a senior Hamas figure.

Eyewitnesses reported around a dozen strikes on Tuesday (September 1) morning in western Gaza City, where the territory’s civil defence Agency said three people were killed, including two children and a woman.

Eight people were wounded, according to the civil defence, which operates as a rescue force under Hamas authority. Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital confirmed it had received the bodies and the wounded.

Speaking on the Israeli side of the Gaza border, Defence Minister Israel Katz announced that “a senior Hamas terrorist was arrested” without naming the person or giving further details.

“We do not wait for threats, but hunt down Hamas terrorists, thwart them, and destroy their terror infrastructure,” Mr. Katz said.

The outspoken minister boasted that due to Israeli strikes since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, nearly 70% of Gaza has been destroyed and under Israeli military control “with no residents, no tunnels, and no houses”.

Security sources in Gaza gave a different account, with one telling AFP the Israeli mission against a prominent Hamas figure was thwarted and that special forces withdrew “on motorcycles under Israeli cover”.

The forces included an Israeli-allied militia inside Gaza, which Hamas has controlled for years, he said.

Ismail al-Thawabta, head of Hamas’s media office in Gaza, said an Israeli special forces operation was “exposed during the mission”, prompting heavy airstrikes in the area.

The bombardment also resulted in the “killing of several members of the special force that attempted to carry out the mission”, Mr. Thawabta wrote on X.

The Israeli military said it struck “several targets in the Gaza Strip to remove threats to the security forces”, without specifying where the strikes took place or giving any further information.

It said no Israeli troops were injured in the operation.

Separately, in the central Gaza Strip, Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah reported that Israeli fire killed two other people, including a girl.

Despite a U.S.-backed ceasefire that took effect in October 2025, violence has not halted in the Gaza Strip, with Israel continuing to target Palestinians it says are militants.

Israeli operations in Gaza have killed at least 1,318 people since the ceasefire came into effect, according to the Palestinian territory’s health ministry, which also operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

The Israeli army has reported five deaths in its ranks over the same period, as well as the death of one civilian contractor.