The new spokesman for Hamas's military wing, known like his predecessor by the alias Abu Obeida, gives his first video statement on December 29, 2025. (Screenshot)
Months after their respective assassinations by Israel, Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, officially confirms the deaths in May of its commander Muhammad Sinwar and Rafah brigade chief Muhammad Shabana, the death in June of senior Qassam officer Hakem al-Issa, and the death in August of Hudhaifa Samir Abdallah al-Kahlout — better known as Abu Obeida — Qassam’s longtime spokesman.
In his first public speech, Kahlout’s successor also pays tribute to Qassam’s slain second-in-command Raad Saad, who was killed earlier this month, and whose death Hamas has already officially acknowledged.
An unmasked photo of Hudhaifa Samir Abdallah al-Kahlout, better known as Abu Obeida, the now-slain longtime spokesperson for Hamas’s military wing, released by Hamas on December 29, 2025. (Courtesy)
The new spokesman announces that he will also be known as Abu Obeida. “We have inherited the title ‘Abu Obeida’ from the commander Hudhaifa al-Kahlout, and we pledge to continue the journey,” says the spokesman.
The statement represents the first time Hamas has referred to Kahlout by his real name or shown his face in public. The IDF publicly revealed Kahlout’s name and image early in the war.
Like the previous Abu Obeida, the new spokesman, whose real name is unclear, delivers his statement with a keffiyeh over his face and wearing military fatigues with a nametag that reads “military spokesman.”
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From the Liveblog of
Monday, December 29, 2025
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