Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the recently appointed head of Hamas's armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, was killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza City. The sophisticated dual-strike targeted a residential apartment in the Remal neighborhood and a vehicle attempting to flee, killing seven Palestinians, including women and children, and wounding 50 others.
Al-Haddad was a key architect of the October 7, 2023 attacks, personally overseeing the breach of the eastern fence and directing elite units that stormed the Re'im military base. According to intelligence reports, he handed local commanders a paper hours before the attack detailing the operation and ordering the capture of Israeli soldiers.
Palestinian political analyst Saeed Ziad told Al Jazeera that while the loss is a "massive symbolic and moral blow," the immediate operational impact on the Qassam Brigades will be limited. "The Qassam Brigades are not built on a hierarchical, sequential structure, but a parallel one. Over the past two decades, Hamas has transitioned into a decentralized guerrilla force. Units operate as isolated, self-sufficient groups," he explained.
Al-Haddad had used the October 2025 ceasefire to rebuild the group's infrastructure, including tunnels, weaponry, and combat formations. Known as the "Ghost," he survived multiple assassination attempts, including bombings of his home in 2009, 2012, 2021, and three times during the current war. In January 2025, his son Suhaib was killed in an Israeli airstrike, but al-Haddad survived and continued to command operations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a rare joint statement claiming they personally ordered the killing. Analyst Mohannad Mustafa said Israel is attempting to "normalize" blatant violations of the ceasefire agreement and appeal to Washington for permission to continue its killing campaign. "Netanyahu is pitching this to the US administration as a necessary step to 'disarm Hamas' under the Trump plan, but the reality is that Israel never wanted this ceasefire. It was imposed on them," Mustafa told Al Jazeera.
With al-Haddad's death, only two members of the Qassam Brigades' military council before the October 2023 attacks remain alive: Mohammed Awad and Imad Aqel. However, analysts point out that Hamas's military wing has a deep bench of cadres and a strict protocol for leadership succession, enabling quick recovery. "The resistance typically appoints a first, second, and third deputy for every active commander. Filling these voids happens rapidly," Ziad said.
Source: www.aljazeera.com