DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel carried out a pair of airstrikes in Gaza City late Tuesday, killing at least three people and injuring 12, hospital officials said. The strike took place on the eve of Eid al-Adha, a major Muslim holiday.
In a joint statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister, Israel Katz, said the strikes had targeted the new leader of Hamas' military wing. They identified him as Mohammed Odeh and called him “one of the architects” of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, which triggered over two years of war.
The strike came less than two weeks after Israel killed the previous head of Hamas' military wing, Izz al-Din al-Haddad.
There was no immediate comment from Hamas. The bodies of the dead were taken to Gaza's Shifa Hospital, which confirmed the deaths.
The attack came on the eve of Eid al-Adha, normally a joyous time of family gatherings and large meals.
The holiday once again is subdued this year in Gaza, where the vast majority of people remain displaced and live in tents or temporary shelters after a devastating war.
A ceasefire reached between Israel and Hamas last October remains fragile. Israeli attacks have killed more than 880 Palestinians since the ceasefire took effect. Israel says its attacks are in response to violations by Hamas or threats to its soldiers, but Palestinian health officials says scores of civilians have been among the dead. Four Israeli soldiers have also been killed during this period.
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas attacks in October 2023, which killed some 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza says over 72,700 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire. The ministry, part of Gaza's Hamas government, does not give a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths.
Israeli soldiers occupy a military position overlooking the so-called Yellow Line in the central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
A yellow block stands demarcating the "Yellow Line," which has separated the Gaza Strip's Israeli-held and Palestinian zones since the October ceasefire, is visible in central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA is already ordering landers, rovers and drones for a sprawling moon base, less than two months after the Artemis II's record-breaking lunar flyaround.
The space agency outlined the first phase of its moon base plans on Tuesday, awarding hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to four U.S. companies.
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin will provide a pair of landers to deliver moon buggies to the lunar surface, at a spot near the moon’s south pole. These so-called lunar terrain vehicles will be built by Astrolab and Lunar Outpost. Firefly Aerospace, which landed successfully on the moon last year, will deliver the first drones to the moon.
All this hardware is ideally supposed to arrive before the first Artemis astronauts land on the moon, planned for as early as 2028.
During April's Artemis II mission, four astronauts flew around the moon, traveling deeper into space than the Apollo moon crews did during the late 1960s and early 1970s. For next year's Artemis III, another team of astronauts will practice docking NASA's Orion capsule in orbit around Earth with the lunar landers being developed for crews by Blue Origin and Elon Musk's SpaceX.
NASA is targeting Artemis III for mid-2027, with a landing by two astronauts following as soon as 2028. The moon base's second phase, from 2029 into the early 2030s, will start building up the permanent infrastructure, including a power grid. As for when the base will be ready to support astronauts for extended periods in specialized permanent habitats, that's expected sometime in the 2030s, during the third phase.
“Then we'll be able to say, 'Hey, we're permanently here and we're not giving it up,'” said NASA's moon base program executive Carlos Garcia-Galan.
Garcia-Galan envisions a moon base sprawling over hundreds of square miles, with a perimeter marked by drones, dubbed MoonFall, stationed at the corners.
Isaacman said these territory markers are meant to be respectful of other countries' spacecraft and equipment that might be nearby. He expects reciprocity in the matter.
The goal of the moon base is to encourage a lunar economy while conducting scientific research and laying the foundation for a Mars expedition, Isaacman stressed.
“For those waiting patiently, the grand return is close at hand and we will not slow down,” Isaacman said. “We are really just getting started.”
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
FILE - In this photo provided by NASA and captured by the Artemis II crew from lunar orbit, the Moon eclipses the Sun on April 6, 2026. (NASA via AP, File)
