An Israeli air strike in Deir al-Balah killed two Hamas internal security officials on Sunday, July 26, 2026, as near-daily military operations persist despite an unfulfilled ceasefire.
Vehicle Strike in Deir al-Balah Kills Senior Hamas Officers
An Israeli air strike killed two prominent Hamas security officials as they travelled through the city of Deir al-Balah on Sunday. The interior ministry identified one of the dead as Colonel Wael Musa al-Ladawi, also referred to as Colonel Wael El-Ledawi, who served as the head of the group’s internal security service in central Gaza. His associate, Major Ramez Tawfiq Abu Zureiq (also cited as Major Ramez Abu Zraiq), died in the same blast.
Footage distributed by the Shehab News Agency depicted a charred vehicle resting in the middle of a roadway, enveloped by thick plumes of smoke. Medics and police officials confirmed the fatalities after the remains were transported to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. The Israeli military confirmed executing a strike targeting a Hamas militant, though it withheld further operational details.
This incident follows a similar operation on Saturday that killed the head of the Hamas police force in northern Gaza, an individual whom Israel characterized as a member of the group’s military wing. Hamas maintains that these targeted attacks on the police force violate the US-brokered October ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Dozens of members of the Hamas-led police force have been killed by Israeli forces in the past few months, including senior officials. Israel has accused many of the force of being members of the Hamas armed wing who posed threats to Israel and its forces inside Gaza.
Additionally, the UN reported that an event occurred in the north of the war-ravaged strip involving a food depot where staff were “endangered,” stating that Hamas stormed the facility.
The Collapsed Truce and Rising Civilian Toll
While the October arrangement halted full-scale fighting, it has not ended the Israeli strikes from occurring near-daily, according to Hamas. Gazan health officials report that the ongoing violence has added to a rising toll of more than 1,190 Palestinians who have been killed by Israeli forces since the ceasefire took effect, with most of those deaths being civilians. (Related figures from Reuters note that more than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks since October, while other tallies cite 1,084 people killed in the months since the ceasefire, including nine killed by strikes and gunfire across Gaza on Wednesday, among them two children and a truck driver gunned down at a roadblock along the Philadelphi Corridor). Hamas does not usually disclose its losses.
During the same timeline, separate incidents have driven casualties across the enclave. Israeli strikes killed at least five Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, according to Palestinian health officials, as a U.S.-based research group reported a surge in Israeli attacks to levels not seen since the latest truce took effect in October. Medics reported an Israeli airstrike killed two people near the Tuffah neighbourhood in the north of the enclave, while a third person was killed in Israeli tank shelling in the Zeitoun suburb in eastern Gaza City. Another airstrike at a tent encampment for displaced people in western Gaza City killed one person and wounded several, while an attack on a vehicle in Khan Younis, in the south, killed another, according to medics. Witnesses also reported that an airstrike hit a residential building in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, causing damage to several homes nearby, while another man was killed on the street by a drone in Gaza City.
The entire people of Gaza have not lived a single day or a single moment of ceasefire. This ceasefire is an illusion,
said Jibril Khattab, a relative of a fatal victim.
Broader Casualties and Humanitarian Pressure
The security official deaths compound a series of lethal incidents across the territory. An Israeli strike in Gaza just before the kickoff of the Egypt-Argentina World Cup match killed Mohamed al-Wahidi, a top Palestinian aid official with Egypt’s relief arm in Gaza who helped organize public screenings of the game across the enclave, according to local health officials. The blast in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City at dusk turned what was supposed to be a moment of celebration into a reminder of how near-daily Israeli strikes continue to kill civilians. Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, the director of Shifa Hospital, stated that three others were killed in the attack alongside Wahidi, including the driver Ahmed Daghmush, 33, and two brothers, 10-year-old Hamza al-Deri and 8-year-old Fari.
Unresolved Diplomacy and What Lies Ahead
Peace negotiations remain stalled, with the Board of Peace, established by United States President Donald Trump, yet to achieve anything of note. Meanwhile, Hamas recently elected a new leader, Khalil al-Hayya, almost two years after his predecessor Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.
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