Israel Strikes Hamas Military Wing Commander Izz Al-Din Al-Haddad In Gaza City

Israel carried out airstrikes in Gaza City on Friday targeting Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the commander of Hamas’s military wing, as Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said he was “one of the architects” of the Oct. 7 attack.

“In a joint statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz announced the targeting of the prominent Hamas leader Ezzedine Haddad of the Al-Qassam Brigades, following an airstrike that hit a residential apartment in the al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City”

Al-Jazeera Net

The strikes hit a residential building in the Al-Moataz residential building in the Remal neighborhood in western Gaza City, where Palestinian Civil Defense said teams were working to contain a fire after the strike, and a vehicle near the building also appeared to have been hit.

Al-Jazeera Net

Reuters reported that Gaza medics said Israel killed at least seven Palestinians, including a child, in airstrikes on Friday that Israel said targeted Hamas’ armed wing chief, while it was not immediately clear if Haddad was among the dead.

Hamas did not immediately acknowledge or comment on the strike, and both Israeli and Hamas sides continued to trade accusations of ceasefire violations after a fragile ceasefire agreement reached in October.

The attack came as Israel said it would continue to work against those who took part in the Oct. 7 attack, in which militants killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, and as the Gaza Health Ministry said more than 850 people have been killed since then.

Israeli officials said initial indications were that the strike against Izz a-Din al-Haddad was successful, while another official said a damage assessment was still pending, and both spoke on the condition of anonymity.

CNN reported that 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, and that the director of Al-Shifa Hospital, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, said the medical complex had received the bodies of three women and a child among the seven dead.

BBC

In a joint statement, Netanyahu and Katz said Haddad “was responsible for the murder, abduction, and harm inflicted on thousands of Israeli civilians (and) soldiers,” while Reuters said it was not immediately clear if Haddad was one of the dead.

The Times of Israel said the strike prompted a joyous response from several of the hostages he had personally held and many hailed the apparent death of the last of the major architects of the October 7, 2023, massacre.

The Times of Israel also quoted Netanyahu and Katz calling Haddad the “commander of Hamas’s military wing and one of the principal architects of the October 7 massacre,” as Hamas did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the fate of Haddad.

The strike threw into question the future of the ceasefire, with Reuters describing a fragile US-brokered ceasefire reached in October that has been followed by near-daily Israeli fire despite ongoing accusations of violations.

“Despite a fragile US-brokered ceasefire in Gaza, Israel carried out strikes on Gaza City targeting Hamas’ most senior military leader, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, according to a joint statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz”

CNN

Nickolay Mladenov, identified in the reporting as the Gaza envoy for the U.S.-led Board of Peace, said at a briefing that Hamas could not continue to exist as a military force “alongside transitional Palestinian authorities,” and that Hamas disarmament remains central to any durable agreement.

Firstpost said the attack came despite an ostensible ceasefire in place since October and that Israel continued carrying out periodic strikes in Gaza, saying it was targeting Hamas operatives or imminent threats to Israeli forces operating across more than half of the devastated enclave.

The Washington Post reported that progress on Trump’s 20-point plan for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip remains slow or stalled, and that Hamas disarmament remained a major sticking point in talks.

In the same reporting, the Washington Post said that “Haddad was responsible for the murder, kidnapping, and harm of thousands of Israeli citizens and IDF soldiers,” and that Netanyahu and Katz said he had “blatantly violated the existing ceasefire” by working to restore the capabilities of the terrorist organization’s military wing.