Israel Says It Killed the Islamic Jihad Man Who Held Its Hostages

The Israel Defense Forces, together with the Shin Bet internal security service, said they had attacked and killed Ali Razaina on Wednesday. Razaina, the military said, served as commander of the northern Gaza Strip brigade of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The IDF said the strike came in response to a violation of the ceasefire agreement the previous night.

In that role, according to the military, Razaina was responsible for the deployment of Hamas fighters and for the defensive plan of Islamic Jihad's Northern Gaza Brigade, and for coordinating with Hamas to develop and carry out attacks on Israeli forces. Throughout the war, the IDF said, he was in charge of the Israeli hostages held by Islamic Jihad in the northern Gaza Strip, and since the ceasefire took effect he had worked to rebuild the brigade.

The second organisation in Gaza

Palestinian Islamic Jihad is a smaller and older armed faction than Hamas, and its relationship with Hamas is the reason a claim about coordination between the two carries weight. The group was founded in Gaza in 1981 by former members of the Muslim Brotherhood, notably Fathi al-Shiqaqi, and seeks what it calls the liberation of historic Palestine through armed struggle, rejecting a two-state settlement, according to Britannica. After Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007 it became the second most powerful faction in the territory, and it has historically been more inclined than Hamas to initiate attacks, a difference that has repeatedly complicated Hamas's attempts to hold ceasefires.

That distinction matters for the specific allegation in this announcement. Islamic Jihad held Israeli hostages separately from Hamas during the war, and the group's operatives have been a source of intelligence for Israel about where captives and bodies were kept. In its account of the recovery of the last hostage's remains, the Times of Israel reported on 26 January 2026 that intelligence from a captured Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative helped pinpoint the burial location.

Why a strike during a truce

The killing took place inside a ceasefire, and the IDF framed it as a response rather than an offensive act. Under the agreement of October 2025, Israeli forces withdrew to a marked demarcation known as the Yellow Line. Al Jazeera's analysis of the deal on 9 October 2025 calculated that even after the pullback around 58 per cent of the Strip would remain under Israeli control, with further withdrawals tied to later phases including the deployment of an international stabilisation force.

Exchanges along that line have been routine rather than exceptional. FDD's Long War Journal reported on 20 February 2026 that the IDF had logged 113 violations of the truce since it began in October 2025, including fourteen in a fortnight that month, and had answered them with air strikes and with fire on armed men approaching or crossing the line.

Rebuilding, and what that means

The most forward-looking claim in the IDF statement is that Razaina had been working since the ceasefire to rehabilitate the Northern Gaza Brigade. Rebuilding a brigade structure inside a truce is precisely the activity Israel has cited to justify continued strikes during the ceasefire period, and it is a claim the military did not substantiate publicly in this announcement.

What is still unclear

The IDF did not say where the strike took place, what munitions were used, or whether anyone besides Razaina was killed. It did not describe the ceasefire violation it was responding to, name the hostages Razaina was said to have been responsible for, or explain how it established his role in holding them. It also gave no age or biographical detail for him.