Israel kills most senior Hamas military leader in Gaza strike
By Eugenia Yosef, Ibrahim Dahman, CNN
Jerusalem (CNN) — Despite a fragile US-brokered ceasefire in Gaza, Israel carried out strikes on Gaza City killing Hamas’ most senior military leader, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, according to a joint statement from the Israel Defense Forces and Israeli Security Agency.
The Israeli strikes on Friday killed at least seven people, with more than 50 others injured and taken to Al-Shifa Hospital, according to the emergency services in Gaza.
The Israeli military said al-Haddad had been killed in what it called a “precise strike.”
After the announcement, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir vowed to “continue to pursue our enemies, strike them and hold accountable everyone who took part in the October 7th massacre.”
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem confirmed al-Haddad’s death on Saturday, calling him “one of the greatest fighters of our Palestinian people.” Social media footage appeared to show al-Haddad’s coffin being carried through the streets of Gaza on Saturday as crowds gathered to mourn the leader.
“Rest in peace Abu Suhaib, and we will continue the struggle,” one individual can be heard saying in the video, referring to al-Haddad by his local nom de guerre.
Israel accused al-Haddad of being responsible for and one of the “architects” behind the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, and for holding hostages in the attack’s aftermath. Israel also accused al-Haddad of refusing “to implement the agreement led by US President (Donald) Trump for Hamas to disarm and for the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.”
Emergency services in Gaza said Israel struck a residential building in the al-Rimal neighborhood near Gaza City on Friday afternoon, before a second strike targeted a car on a nearby street.
The director of Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, told CNN that the medical complex, which also serves as the area’s morgue, has so far received the bodies of three women and a child among the seven dead from the strikes.
Paramedics with the Palestine Red Crescent Society responded to both sites on Friday evening, transporting nearly 30 injured patients to Al-Saraya Field Hospital, the organization said.
The secretive al-Haddad is considered one of the most important figures in Hamas, known as the “Ghost of al-Qassam” for the low profile he maintains. He is the head of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing. After Israel assassinated Hamas’ other leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, his brother Mohammed Sinwar, and Mohammed Deif, al-Haddad was considered to be one of the militant group’s top decision makers.
A senior Israeli security official previously said initial indications were that the assassination of al-Haddad was successful.
The attack comes despite an ostensible ceasefire that has been in place since October. Israel has carried out regular strikes in Gaza that it says are targeting Hamas or what officials describe as imminent threats to Israeli forces occupying more than half of the destroyed enclave.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Israeli strikes have killed more than 850 people in Gaza since the ceasefire went into effect in mid-October.
On Thursday, the official in charge of implementing the US-brokered ceasefire agreement in Gaza acknowledged the truce was “far from perfect,” even as he said it brought “relative stability.”
Nickolay Mladenov, who previously served as the UN’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said at a press briefing that the disarmament of Hamas remains a key hurdle. “The plan is clear: Hamas needs to step back from governance of Gaza, its weapons need to be decommissioned and Gaza deradicalized” he said.
Mladenov conditioned Israel’s full withdrawal from Gaza on the fulfillment of other elements of the plan – primarily Hamas’ disarmament and achieving civil governance in Gaza.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
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CNN’s Billy Stockwell contributed to this report.
