Hamas Admits Senior Official Wounded in Gaza Strike

Hamas has officially acknowledged that senior official Ali al-A'amoudi, reportedly a successor to former leader Yahya Sinwar, was wounded in an Israeli strike in Gaza two weeks ago. This admission contradicts earlier reports that claimed al-A'amoudi had been warned and evacuated from the area prior to the attack. A senior official, speaking anonymously to "Asharq Al-Awsat," confirmed that al-A'amoudi sustained moderate injuries, including fractures to his limbs, during the bombing of an apartment where he was present. The official stated that al-A'amoudi survived because he was in a side section of the building and is now in a secure location receiving medical treatment.

This marks the first official confirmation from Hamas regarding al-A'amoudi's presence in the targeted apartment. Previously, multiple sources within the organization had denied his involvement, suggesting he had escaped beforehand. Earlier accounts from three sources indicated that al-A'amoudi received an urgent intelligence report about intense activity of Israeli drones three hours before the strike, prompting him to leave the apartment. These sources claimed that two operatives from the Al-Qassam Brigades' air array identified the drones and alerted security, leading to al-A'amoudi's evacuation shortly before the strike.

The senior official who confirmed al-A'amoudi's injury declined to confirm or deny the details of the early warning but noted that observers regularly report Israeli drone movements. It is believed that Hamas may have attempted to conceal the extent of al-A'amoudi's injuries as part of psychological and intelligence warfare aimed at projecting Israeli failure and creating confusion within Israeli security forces.

Al-A'amoudi is considered a strategically important figure within Hamas, known for his close ties to the former leader Yahya Sinwar, with whom he served time in Israeli prison and was released in the Gilad Shalit deal. Before the recent conflict, he headed Hamas's information department and was appointed in December 2025 to manage the Gaza Strip's political bureau, a move that reportedly faced internal opposition. Weeks before the assassination attempt, al-A'amoudi competed in internal elections for Hamas leadership in Gaza against Nizar Awadallah, but the decision was frozen due to appeals.