Israel killed Hamas’s new military chief with a strike in Gaza less than two weeks after killing his predecessor, as it works to cripple the militant group as a military or governing force.People carry bodies identified by mourners as Hamas' military wing commander Mohammad Odeh, who was killed in an Israeli strike on Tuesday, and his wife and children, during a funeral, in Gaza City, May 27, 2026 (REUTERS)Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that Israel killed Mohammed Odeh in an airstrike the day before. He said Odeh helped plan the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, in which around 1,200 people were killed and roughly 250 others were taken hostage.The killing came seven months into a fragile cease-fire, one of a string of Israeli attacks under a campaign to kill or capture anyone involved in the Oct. 7 attack or hostage taking, from rank-and-file members to top leaders, an effort that persists despite the truce.“We pledged to eliminate everyone who led the October 7th massacre, and so we shall do,” Katz said.Witnesses said they heard several large explosions in a crowded shopping area in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City after dark Tuesday. The streets were busy with shoppers who had broken their fasts ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. Even after the strikes, Israeli drones stayed in the air patrolling for almost an hour, they said.Videos verified by Storyful, which is owned by News Corp, the parent company of The Wall Street Journal, showed ambulances and people rushing to the scene of what appeared to be a street of residential buildings. Damaged buildings and cars could be seen, and debris was strewn on the roads. The body of a person lay limp on the ground surrounded by a crowd of onlookers in one video, as women could be heard screaming. In another, a limp man partly covered in a blanket was carried away in a stretcher.The Israeli military said it struck several buildings in the center of Gaza City that served as hide-outs for Odeh after months of tracking his movements. The military said that it had also struck a nearby apartment belonging to a militant who had infiltrated Israel on Oct. 7.Odeh had succeeded Ezzedin al-Haddad, a Hamas veteran who had also taken over as military commander after his predecessor was killed.Odeh’s killing came as progress on the Gaza cease-fire plan brokered by President Trump has stalled, leaving the enclave in limbo between war and peace.Hamas has resisted disarming as the agreement requires. Meanwhile the international military force intended to secure the enclave has yet to take shape, and a technocratic committee that was supposed to oversee daily governance has yet to enter Gaza.Israel has further expanded its control of the enclave by moving the so-called yellow line, which marks the division of territory, deeper into Hamas’s zone of control.Hundreds of Gazans have been killed in Israeli attacks since the cease-fire went into effect in early October, according to Palestinian health authorities.The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire, with the population relying on handouts and lacking proper sanitation and shelter.Write to Anat Peled at anat.peled@wsj.com