A long-serving Hamas commander who replaced Mohammed Sinwar and helped plan the October 7 attacks in Israel was killed on Friday, Israeli officials said Saturday.
Izz al-Din al-Haddad was the head of Hamas’ military wing, the Israel Defense Forces said in a news release. The IDF said he “was involved in the holding of many Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity” amid the war in Gaza and “surrounded himself with hostages to prevent his elimination.”
Haddad joined Hamas during its early establishment, according to the IDF. He maintained close ties with Hamas leadership before his death, and recently operated “to rehabilitate Hamas’ military wing capabilities,” the Israeli army said. He was one of the last surviving architects of the October 7 attacks, the IDF said. The terror attacks left 1,200 dead and saw over 250 people taken captive in Gaza.
Izz al-Din al-Haddad.
Israel Defense Forces
“This is an important closing of a circle. In all the conversations I had with the abductees who returned, the name of the master murderer, Iz al-Din Haddad … came up time and time again,” IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said in a statement.
The Israeli army said Haddad was killed in a “precise strike” in Gaza City. Haddad’s family also confirmed his death to The Associated Press, and said he was killed alongside six others, including his wife and daughter. Their funeral was held in Gaza City on Saturday.
The AP reported two Israeli strikes in Gaza City on Friday. One targeted a building and another a vehicle, the AP reported. Health officials in the Palestine Red Crescent Society’s Saraya Field Hospital and Shifa hospital told the AP seven people were killed and dozens more were wounded in the strikes. Haddad’s family told the AP that he was killed alongside six others.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that Haddad’s death means Israel has nearly eliminated all orchestrators of the October 7 attack.
“I promised that every single architect of the massacre and the hostage-taking would be eliminated down to the last one, and we are very close to completing this mission,” Netanyahu said during the weekly cabinet meeting, according to the AFP.
