A high-ranking Israeli military officer was killed while fighting in Gaza on Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced the same day.

Colonel Ehsan Daqsa, 41, was commander of Israel’s 401st Armoured Brigade, and died when his tank was targeted by explosive devices during operations inside Jabalia refugee camp. Reports suggest an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated when a group of officers stood outside of their tanks.

Colonel Ehsan Daqsa, IDF

Another Israeli soldier was seriously wounded in the same incident, which involved a second tank being blown up.

It remains somewhat rare that a colonel (and brigade commander) would be involved in leading operations directly in the battle zone in Gaza. Col. Daqsa has been identified as one of the most senior officers to have been killed in over a year of Gaza operations.

The Times of Israel reports of the details of his death: “An IDF probe into the death of Daqsa found that he was outside his tank with other officers when they were hit by an explosive device in Jabaliya, as part of an ongoing offensive there against Hamas.”

This strongly suggests that despite the death of Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ top leader in Gaza, Hamas militants are still fighting fiercely and are not relenting.

Western leaders used the opportunity of Sinwar’s death last week to call for urgent ceasefire and the return of the Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza, but at this point it seems a distant prospect.

Fighting could actually intensify in the wake of Sinwar’s death, given he has been held up among Palestinians in Gaza as a martyr and a hero, who went down fighting till the end.

Meanwhile it looks like Hamas and its external backers are already readying to name a successor: 

Hamas is likely to name Qatar-based Khalil al-Hayya as a successor to slain leader Yahya Sinwar, aligning it closer to Iran and giving its main backer more sway in the next stage of the group’s war with Israel.

Al-Hayya is a protégé of Ismail Haniyeh, Sinwar’s predecessor who was believed to have been assassinated by Israel in Tehran in July. He has been leading indirect negotiations with Israel over both a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of hostages kidnapped by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attacks last year, which triggered the ongoing conflict.

Currently there’s very heavy fighting in and around Jabaliya, which is a few kilometers north of Gaza City.

Jabalia |

Israeli soldiers of the 432 battalion share on their private accounts scenes showing them burning Hamed School, Next to Indonesi Hospital in Jabalia RC.

The smoke rising from the school was filmed by Palestinian journalists near the area. pic.twitter.com/gpsZ7yzjWR

— Younis Tirawi | يونس (@ytirawi) October 20, 2024

Israeli airstrikes have pummeled the area, providing cover for tank and ground forces, but several reports over the past days have pointed to huge civilian casualties, with dozens killed.

Some 400,000 people are reportedly in Jabalia camp, and there are reports that the military siege has cut off most supplies of food, water, and medicine.