Hamas Confirms Killing of Izz Al-Din Al-Haddad in Israeli Attack on Gaza City

Hamas confirmed the killing of Izz al-Din al-Haddad, head of the armed wing of the Palestinian group in Gaza, in an Israeli attack a day earlier, and Hamas condemned Israel’s “treacherous and cowardly assassination” of al-Haddad in a statement on Saturday.

“Hamas has confirmed the killing of Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the head of the armed wing of the Palestinian group in Gaza, in an Israeli attack a day earlier”

Al Jazeera

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Friday that Israeli forces had targeted and killed al-Haddad, calling him “one of the architects” of the October 7, 2023, attacks.

Al Jazeera

The strikes targeted the Remal neighbourhood west of Gaza City, and Al Jazeera reported that the strikes caused “panic” at the scene as dozens of Palestinians were forced to flee the “massive fire” that engulfed the residential building.

Hamas said al-Haddad was killed along with his wife, his daughter, and other Palestinian civilians on Friday evening, while medical sources cited by Al Jazeera said three Palestinians were killed in a strike on a civilian vehicle and four others died in a strike on a building.

The Gaza Health Ministry said the death toll from Israeli attacks has reached 870 since the so-called “ceasefire” began in October last year, and the number of injured has climbed to 2,543.

Israel said in a statement that “yesterday, in a precise strike in the area of the City of Gaza, the terrorist Ezz al-Din al-Haddad was eliminated,” and AFP reported that two Hamas officials also told Agence France-Presse that Haddad had been killed in an Israeli strike.

Hamas sources said Haddad was killed along with his wife and a daughter, and AFP photographs showed mourners carrying Haddad’s body wrapped in a Hamas flag from the ruins of a building to a mosque for prayers before burial.

AP News

Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Israel’s military chief, called the killing a “significant operational achievement,” saying “In every conversation I held with the hostages who returned, the name of the arch-terrorist Ezz al-Din al-Haddad... came up again and again.”

Hazem Qassem, a Hamas spokesman, told AFP that Haddad was one of the “greatest fighters” in Palestinian history, and he said Haddad “stands among the towering figures of the Palestinian revolution.”

The Associated Press reported that Haddad’s family confirmed his death in Friday’s strike along with six other people, and that his funeral was held Saturday in Gaza City with his body wrapped in Hamas and Palestinians flags.

Al Jazeera said Hamas viewed al-Haddad’s killing as the latest Israeli breach of the Gaza “ceasefire” agreement, and it said such attacks reaffirm “the criminal and fascist nature” of Israel.

“Israel says it targeted Hamas' military wing chief in Gaza, Az al-Din al-Haddad”

BBC

The same Al Jazeera report said Hamas called for a nationwide strike, and it quoted Federation president Kalpona Akter saying, “This was not an accident. This was corporate murder.”

The Jerusalem Post reported that IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir described the operation as a “significant operational achievement,” and it quoted him saying “Today, we succeeded in eliminating him.”

The Times of Israel said the IDF confirmed Haddad’s killing in a “precise strike” on Gaza City and described him as having “acted to rebuild the capabilities of the terrorist organization’s military wing and to plan numerous terror attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops,” despite a US-brokered ceasefire agreement in October.

PBS reported that Israel’s retaliatory strikes have killed more than 72,700 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and that the ministry is part of Gaza’s Hamas-run government but staffed by medical professionals who maintain and publish detailed records.