The Israeli Defense Ministry announced on Friday that it had targeted the head of Hamas’s armed wing in the Gaza Strip.
“Armed forces carried out a strike in Gaza targeting top terrorist Ezzedine al-Haddad, commander of Hamas’ military wing and one of the main architects of the October 7 massacre,” according to a statement.
“Shortly after receiving information regarding Haddad’s location (…), Israeli Air Force planes took off” to conduct the operation, detailed a military official in another press release, adding that they were awaiting confirmation of his death.
According to Gaza Civil Defense, one person was killed and around 20 others injured after warplanes “bombed a residential building” in the Al-Ramal neighborhood of Gaza City. However, she did not give an identity.
Israeli television broadcast footage showing a burning building in Gaza, claiming it was the location where Ezzedine al-Haddad was targeted.
The ministry accuses him of being “responsible for the murder, kidnapping and suffering inflicted on thousands of Israeli civilians and soldiers of the Israeli army”.
“He held our hostages in brutal conditions of captivity, orchestrated terrorist attacks against our forces and refused to implement the agreement proposed by US President Donald Trump aimed at the disarmament of Hamas and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip,” he added.
“Violation of the trust”
A truce came into effect on October 10, 2025 in the territory, part of which is controlled by Hamas and the other by the Israeli army.
“Haddad openly violated the ceasefire in force by working to restore the capabilities of the military wing of the terrorist organization, by planning numerous attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers of the Israeli army, and by refusing to disarm,” the official said. Israeli military official.
It describes the man as “the highest-ranking military official of the Hamas terrorist organization and the last high-ranking Hamas leader still present in the Gaza Strip to have participated in the organization of the October 7 massacre.”
During the war, he “changed his hiding place multiple times,” according to the same source.
Israel claimed responsibility for the deaths of several senior Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinouar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, killed on October 16, 2024.
The Israeli army also killed Mohammed Deif in July 2024, commander-in-chief of the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades and another mastermind of the attacks.
AFP
