IDF Reportedly Targets Hamas Leader Ali al-Amawi in Gaza Strike

Arab media outlets reported Saturday that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attempted to assassinate Ali al-Amawi, a senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip considered by many to be the successor to Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the October 7th massacre who was killed in the war. Al-Amawi does not hold the official title of Hamas leader in Gaza but is competing for the position in the organization's internal elections.

Palestinian reports indicated that an early morning Israeli Air Force strike on a building in western Gaza City killed five people, including four women. Rescue teams evacuated the dead and injured to hospitals, with ongoing searches for others trapped under the rubble. If the reports are accurate, this strike is part of an ongoing IDF campaign to eliminate senior Hamas figures in recent weeks.

Al-Amawi, a member of Hamas's political bureau, is a former prisoner who was released in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange. He was responsible for the organization's information and communications department before the war and became a central figure in managing Hamas affairs in Gaza. He is currently running for the leadership of Hamas's political bureau in Gaza against Nizar Awadallah. The election's runoff was frozen after Awadallah appealed some of the proceedings.

Al-Amawi's connection to Sinwar is significant; they met during their imprisonment in Israel and maintained their relationship after their release. Al-Amawi served as Sinwar's bureau chief from 2017 to 2021. After Sinwar's death and the elimination of other senior Hamas leaders in the war, al-Amawi's influence grew, reportedly taking over the management of the political bureau's affairs in Gaza and becoming a key figure in the organization's field operations. Some of these moves have reportedly caused internal controversy.

Sources cited by Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath suggest Khaled Meshaal and Zaher Jabarin support Awadallah, while Ali al-Amawi has the backing of Khalil al-Hayya, head of Hamas's political bureau in Gaza, though Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported uncertainty about al-Hayya's support. Al-Amawi is described as a political-organizational leader rather than a military commander, whose influence has significantly increased due to the war's decimation of the organization's top ranks.