IDF attacks Islamic Jihad arms production factory in Gaza

On Thursday, Hamas confirmed that Azzam al-Hayya, the son of Hamas leader in Gaza Khalil al-Hayya, died of wounds sustained in an Israeli airstrike.

By JNS

The Israel Defense Forces, guided by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), struck a weapons production site belonging to Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday, the two bodies said in a joint statement.

“The site had recently been used by the organization’s production array, as well as by the Hamas terrorist organization, for the production of explosive devices and the storage of additional weapons intended to harm Israeli civilians and IDF troops operating near the Yellow Line,” the statement read.

The Yellow Line runs through the Strip, with the IDF holding about 54% of the territory, east of the line.

The IDF and Shin Bet stressed that measures were taken to mitigate harm to civilians, including the evacuation of the area and the use of aerial surveillance, before striking the site with precise munitions.

“IDF troops in the Southern Command remain deployed in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat,” the statement added.

On Thursday, Hamas confirmed that Azzam al-Hayya, the son of Hamas leader in Gaza Khalil al-Hayya, died of wounds sustained in an Israeli airstrike.

Al-Hayya died following an Israeli strike in Gaza City’s Daraj Tuffah area late on Wednesday, a source at the city’s Shifa Hospital told Al Jazeera.

In a statement cited by the Qatari media outlet on Thursday, Hamas said the killing of al-Hayya was an attempt by the Jewish state to “influence the will of the resistance and its political stances.”

A U.S.-brokered ceasefire that took effect on Oct. 10, 2025, ended the two-year war in Gaza that was sparked by the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.

Senior Hamas leaders including Khaled Mashaal and Musa Abu Marzouk have rejected key parts of Washington’s peace plan in recent months, including disarmament, despite having agreed to the proposal in October.