The head of Hamas’s “military wing” was eliminated in a precision airstrike in Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood on Friday, the Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) said in a joint statement.
Izz al-Din al-Haddad was “one of the architects of the brutal October 7, [2023,] massacre,” the statement read.
The senior assumed his role following the killing in 2025 of predecessor Mohammed Sinwar, the brother of Yahya Sinwar, and has recently been leading the efforts to rebuild Hamas’s armed strength in the Gaza Strip, the IDF and Shin Bet said.
Since the war began, al-Haddad spearheaded Hamas’s “hostage captivity system and surrounded himself with hostages in an attempt to prevent his elimination,” the statement added.
Terrorists from Gaza kidnapped 251 people from Israel’s northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023, most of whom were held by Hamas.
A Hamas member since the early days of its establishment, al-Haddad was also “one of the last senior commanders in Hamas’s military wing who directed the planning and execution of the Oct. 7 massacre and the management of combat operations against IDF troops,” the military said.
Earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a joint statement in which they praised the IDF and the Shin Bet for “effectively implementing the government’s policy of not tolerating threats and preemptively thwarting our enemies.
“Al-Haddad was responsible for the murder, abduction and harm inflicted upon thousands of Israeli civilians and Israel Defense Forces soldiers,” Netanyahu and Katz stated.
Israel will continue to act against all those who took part in the Oct. 7 massacre, the statement continued.
“This is a clear message to all those seeking our destruction: Sooner or later, Israel will reach you.”
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir reacted to the targeted killing, saying in a statement, “This is a significant operational achievement by the IDF, led by the Southern Command, IDF intelligence the Israeli Air Force, and the Shin Bet. In every conversation I held with the hostages who returned, the name of the arch-terrorist Izz al-Din al-Haddad, one of the chief perpetrators of the October 7 massacre and the head of Hamas’s military wing, came up again and again.
“Today, we succeeded in eliminating him. The IDF will continue to pursue our enemies, strike them and hold accountable everyone who took part in the October 7 massacre. We will not relent until we reach them all—this is our duty to all those who returned and to all citizens of the State of Israel.”
Conducting a situational assessment following al-Haddad’s death, Zamir instructed the Southern Command to maintain a high level of operational readiness and to respond immediately to any attempt to carry out attacks against Israel or Israeli soldiers, the IDF said.
As of press time, Hamas had yet to confirm the senior terrorist’s death.
Meanwhile, the IDF said on Saturday that it killed two Hamas terrorists who infiltrated Israel during the Hamas-led Oct. 7 invasion.
“Over the past two weeks, in two different strikes in the northern Gaza Strip, the IDF eliminated Hamer Iyad Muhammad Almatouk and Khaled Muhammad Salem Joudeh, two Hamas terrorists,” the army said.
The men tried in recent days to carry out attacks against Israeli troops operating in the Gaza Strip, the IDF said. They posed an immediate threat to the troops and were eliminated in precise strikes, the statement continued.
A third terrorist belonging to Hamas’s Bureij Battalion was targeted and killed on Wednesday in central Gaza, the IDF continued.
The targeted killing of Abd al-Rahman Mahmoud Jumaa Shaafi was conducted with steps to mitigate harm to the civilian population via precise munitions and aerial surveillance, the statement read.
“IDF troops in the Southern Command remain deployed in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat,” the IDF concluded.
