An Israeli airstrike killed the leader of Hamas’s military wing in Gaza, the Israeli military said on Saturday. He was the most senior Hamas official to be killed by Israel since a cease-fire began last fall.
The Hamas commander, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, took over the group’s military wing in Gaza last year, after Israeli forces killed Muhammad Sinwar, the brother of Yahya Sinwar, an architect of Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Salama Maaroof, the director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, confirmed Mr. al-Haddad’s death in a post on social media. Hamas’s official broadcaster, Al-Aqsa TV, said hundreds of Gazans had borne Mr. al-Haddad’s body in a funeral procession in Gaza City on Saturday.
Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the Israeli military’s chief of staff, said in a statement on Saturday that the killing of Mr. al-Haddad was “a significant operational achievement.”
Israel’s prime minister and defense minister announced the strike against Mr. al-Haddad in a joint statement on Friday, describing him as another architect of the October 2023 attack. They said that he had “refused to implement the agreement” brokered by President Trump “to disarm Hamas and demilitarize the Gaza Strip.”
The airstrike hit a building in Gaza, and the Israeli Air Force also struck around the structure in order to prevent an escape, according to two Israeli defense officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operations in Gaza.
Mahmoud Basal, a spokesman for Gaza’s Civil Defense, an emergency service under the Hamas-run interior ministry, said on Saturday that at least six people had been killed in the attacks, without specifying whether Mr. al-Haddad was among them.
Experts, as well as a senior official of Mr. Trump’s Board of Peace, say that Israel has repeatedly violated the October 2025 cease-fire with almost daily airstrikes in Gaza. Experts also say Israel has violated the agreement by taking control of territory beyond the truce lines and by hampering the delivery of humanitarian aid and rubble removal equipment.
Israeli officials have accused Hamas leaders, including Mr. al-Haddad, of violating the cease-fire by trying to restore their military abilities and planning new attacks.
Mr. al-Haddad, in his mid-50s, was believed to be firmly opposed to Israeli efforts to dislodge Hamas from power in Gaza, and was thought to be based in Gaza City. Since the Oct. 7 attack, he has been the only senior Hamas commander to give an on-the-record interview, appearing in an Al Jazeera documentary that aired last year.
Known to his Hamas compatriots as Abu Suheib, he was one of the few remaining living commanders who was a member of the militant group’s high-level military council on Oct. 7, 2023. A Hebrew speaker, Mr. al-Haddad also spent time with Israeli hostages in northern Gaza, according to Israeli officials. He rose into higher leadership positions as Israel killed one senior Hamas leader after another, including Muhammad Deif, the leader of the military wing; Mr. Deif’s top deputy, Marwan Issa; and the Sinwar brothers.
Records from the Gaza health ministry indicate that Mr. al-Haddad’s eldest son, Suheib, was among the people killed during the war, which has left tens of thousands of Gazans dead. In April, the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, announced the killing of Mahmoud Abu Hiseira, whom it described as Mr. al-Haddad’s right-hand man.
So far, Hamas has resisted demands that it relinquish its military wing’s weapons. A top official of the Board of Peace, Nickolay Mladenov, accused Hamas this week of blocking efforts to help Palestinians, and urged it to surrender its weapons and make room for the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, a U.S.-appointed group of Palestinian technocrats waiting to enter Gaza and assume control over government functions.
A Hamas spokesman, Hazem Qassim, said this week that the Hamas-run government in Gaza was ready to hand over the administration of the territory to the National Committee, without saying whether the group’s military wing was willing to give up its weapons.
Ronen Bergman, Rawan Sheikh Ahmad, Adam Rasgon, Aaron Boxerman and Lynsey Chutel contributed reporting.
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