Hamas was deeply shocked after a number of its military leaders were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting them on May 12, and it fears that Israel has spies who have uncovered Hamas' secret communications system.

The targeting was part of the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip after resistance factions fired hundreds of rockets toward Israel on May 10, in response to the Israeli police storming Al-Aqsa Mosque and the attempts to evict residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem.

As of May 14, the death toll in Gaza was at least 122, including 31 children and 20 women. Additionally, some 900 were wounded, some of whom are in critical condition.

The Israeli army announced on May 12 that it had killed 16 Hamas military leaders and members. Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the movement’s military wing, admitted in a statement on May 12 that some of its leaders had been killed, namely, “Bassem Issa, the commander of the Gaza City Brigade, and several other leaders and mujahideen who died during the occupation’s aggression against the resistance’s sites and hideouts.”