An Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed Izz al-Din al-Haddad, a Hamas leader of the group’s military wing, Israel said Saturday, as the war continued despite a ceasefire that has been described as fragile. Israel’s military said al-Haddad was killed Friday and labeled him one of the last surviving architects of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel. Hamas confirmed his death.
In Israel’s account, al-Haddad was a senior Hamas military commander who directed planning and execution for the attacks that killed around 1,200 people in southern Israel and resulted in more than 250 hostages being taken. The Israeli military also said al-Haddad assumed the role of Hamas commander after Mohammed Sinwar was killed, and that he had surrounded himself with Israeli hostages during the war as a shield against an attack.
A Hamas spokesperson, Hazem Qassem, confirmed the killing on social media, according to the report. Al-Haddad’s family also confirmed his death in Friday’s strike to The Associated Press, the report said. The AP said six other people, including al-Haddad’s wife and daughter, were killed, and that his two sons had been killed earlier in the war. The report said mourners carried his body at a Saturday funeral in Gaza City while it was wrapped in Hamas and Palestinian flags.
The reported killing unfolded as ceasefire efforts remained stalled. The report said the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas remained fragile, and that the top diplomat overseeing it said the talks had stalled because of the deadlock over disarming Hamas. It also said both sides traded accusations of violations, and that Gaza had seen near-daily Israeli fire since the ceasefire went into effect in October.
Gaza’s Health Ministry, which the report described as part of a Hamas-run government but staffed by medical professionals, said more than 850 people had been killed in the Palestinian territory since the ceasefire took effect in October. The ministry also said Israel’s retaliatory strikes in the wider war have killed more than 72,700 people, and that it maintains detailed records that are viewed as generally reliable by the international community.
Israel’s military chief of staff called al-Haddad’s killing a “significant operation,” and said Israel would continue pursuing its enemies to hold them accountable. Beyond the military role described by Israel, the AP reported that al-Haddad joined Hamas when it was established in the 1980s, was a member of the Qassam Brigades’ Majd section tasked to go after collaborators with Israel, and belonged to Hamas’ Military Council, described as the highest group of commanders involved in the attacks that triggered the war.
Violence also flared elsewhere on Saturday. In the occupied West Bank, the report said Israeli troops shot and killed a 34-year-old Palestinian in the Jenin refugee camp, according to the Palestinian Health ministry. The Palestinian Red Crescent said Hassan Fayyad was fatally shot in a thigh; Israel’s military said troops fired warning shots at a person trying to infiltrate the camp and shot him when he did not comply, and that it provided him with medical treatment as he was transferred to a hospital.
The report added that on Thursday Israeli troops shot and killed a 15-year-old boy in Eastern Lubban, near Nablus, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Israel’s military said it identified three people hurling rocks toward Israeli vehicles and “endangering lives,” and that troops fired at them, killing one. Separately, Palestinian religious authorities said settlers set fire to a mosque and vehicles in the village of Jibiya, northwest of Ramallah, and that security camera footage showed people pouring flammable material on the mosque and at least two vehicles. The report said Sabir Shalash, head of Jibiya’s municipal council, said Hebrew spray-painted slogans were found on the mosque’s walls.
The Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs described the attack as “a cowardly terrorist act” and criticized the international community’s inaction over mounting Jewish settler attacks against Muslim and Christian sites in the occupied Palestinian territories, the AP report said. Israel’s military and police said they were deployed to the area and did not locate any suspects, while investigating, and the army said it “strongly condemns” attacks on religious institutions.
Samy Magdy reported from Cairo.