Israel just killed its third Hamas brigade commander in a month

Each one announced the same way — a joint statement from Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel Katz.

And al-Baik had already survived one attempt on his life.

Around six months ago, a strike killed Imad Aslim, the deputy commander of Hamas's Gaza City Brigade. That strike appears to have been aimed at al-Baik too. He took over the Northern Gaza Brigade after his predecessor, known as Ahmed, was killed. Before that, he ran the brigade's military intelligence.

Now, here's where this sits.

There's a ceasefire in Gaza. It's been in place since October last year. Israel says it's still enforcing that ceasefire, against Hamas violations. Hamas and Gaza's own authorities say the opposite — that Israel keeps breaking the truce itself, with strikes like this one.

So a year after the guns were meant to stop, both sides are still blaming each other for why they haven't.

And this isn't the first time Israel has gone after Gaza's police under the same ceasefire. In July, an Israeli strike killed the head of the Hamas-run police force in northern Gaza. That was months before this strike, but it's the same pattern — Israel picking off named leaders inside Gaza while the ceasefire holds on paper.

Here's what we don't know yet. What damage the strike did to the building, beyond killing al-Baik. Whether anyone else was killed or hurt. Whether Hamas will name a replacement. Whether Hamas plans any retaliation. And the Israeli military still hasn't published its own account of the strike.

But the shape of this is clear.

Israel has now killed three Hamas brigade commanders in a month. And its Prime Minister just said the campaign goes on, down every rank, until there's nobody left.