The central area of the Gaza Strip witnessed a sudden escalation from dawn on Wednesday until evening hours, following a series of intensive Israeli operations that targeted various sites and included the assassination of a prominent field activist in the 'Al-Qassam Brigades,' the armed wing of the 'Hamas' movement.

The series of raids began with an Israeli helicopter targeting a residential apartment in central Deir al-Balah in the middle of the Strip, resulting in the death of the 'Al-Qassam Brigades' activist Omar Abu Qassem, his wife, and their daughter, while another child survived as the only remaining family member after the apartment was bombed.

Field sources speaking to 'Asharq Al-Awsat' confirmed that Abu Qassem was the head of the sniper unit in the Deir al-Balah battalion. This was also mentioned by the Israeli army in a statement on Thursday, but it claimed that Abu Qassem 'was planning a series of attacks and working on rehabilitating the battalion's infrastructure.'

As Wednesday night fell into Thursday, the Israeli army ordered the evacuation of a residential block that included a wedding hall where a Palestinian family was celebrating a wedding; they were forced to stop their celebration after the evacuation order, to the area at the entrance of the Maghazi camp in the central Strip, before warplanes proceeded to destroy a house in the area, causing damage to homes and the surrounding area.

Smoke rises from the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza after an Israeli military strike on Wednesday (AP)

Shortly thereafter, the Israeli army ordered the evacuation of another residential block in central Deir al-Balah, before targeting an apartment and causing severe damage. This was followed by the evacuation of a third residential block in the Nuseirat camp in the central Strip, and a house was destroyed there, causing massive destruction in the area, followed by the bombing of another house in a fourth residential block that had been evacuated in the Bureij camp in the central Strip, also causing major destruction in the area.

Residents of the central Strip area endured a difficult night due to those strikes and the massive displacement they witnessed. With these strikes, Israel bombed targets in all areas of the central Strip except the town of Zawayda.

The Israeli army said in a statement on Thursday afternoon that the attacks aimed to destroy four weapons warehouses belonging to the 'Hamas' movement.

What is the secret behind the intensity of the attacks?

Two field sources revealed that the heavy strikes came just two days after elements of the armed gang led by former Palestinian security officer Shawqi Abu Nseira kidnapped a prominent field activist from the 'Al-Qassam Brigades,' a resident of Deir al-Balah, whose apartment was bombed on Wednesday in Deir al-Balah.

Armed gangs backed by Israel operate in areas under its control east of the yellow line, which constitutes more than 60 percent of Gaza's area located east of the imaginary yellow line that was defined within the ceasefire agreement announced last October, while 'Hamas' controls the areas west of the line.

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It explained that this activist is one of the field figures of the 'Brigades' and is privy to many details regarding the capabilities and structure of 'Al-Qassam.' He was kidnapped by gunmen after their vehicle struck him, causing him to fall to the ground, before they got out and pretended they would try to take him to the hospital, put him in the vehicle, and then fled with him to areas under the control of Israel and the armed gangs.

According to the estimates of the two sources, the kidnapped young man was handed over by the armed gangs to the Israeli forces as usual, and was subjected to severe torture as happens with Palestinian prisoners. Therefore, he may have been 'forced to provide information, some of which was security-related, and others non-vital such as the locations of civilian homes that were bombed on Wednesday simply because their sons are active in resistance factions.'

Ongoing Bombing and Assassinations

Throughout the early hours of Thursday, Israeli artillery, vehicles, and drones did not stop shelling and firing towards areas around the 'Dawla' intersection in the Zeitoun neighborhood on Salah al-Din Street, forcing dozens of families living in tents and some damaged homes in that area to flee, in a scene that was particularly harsh for children, the elderly, and women who left without any belongings under a hail of fire, and moved deeper into Gaza City.

Mourners carry the body of Palestinian Nihad Arouq during his funeral procession after an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza port area on Thursday (DPA)

Israeli vehicles advanced into that area in the Zeitoun neighborhood southeast of Gaza City, and presented yellow cubes indicating the yellow line as a first withdrawal line defined within the ceasefire agreement.

The artillery shelling killed a Palestinian citizen and wounded several others. Meanwhile, early Thursday morning, a drone bombed two young men in the Sanafur area of the Tuffah neighborhood east of Gaza City.

A few hours later, Israel assassinated the prominent 'Al-Qassam Brigades' activist Nihad Arouq, who had survived at least four assassination attempts that targeted him and killed many of his relatives, after he was bombed in the morning in his tent on the coastal Rashid Street near the Gaza port.

Palestinians retrieve some of their belongings from destroyed buildings the day after an Israeli airstrike on the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza on Thursday (AP)

After about three hours, an Israeli drone bombed a vehicle in Mawasi Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip, killing a prominent field activist in the 'Al-Qassam Brigades,' Anas Hamdan, the head of military media for 'Al-Qassam' in the Khan Younis brigade, and the son-in-law of Rafa'a Salama, the former brigade commander who was assassinated by Israel alongside Mohammed Deif last July. More than 1,130 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire took effect on October 10, 2025.