IDF says veteran Hamas operative who helped plan Oct. 7 was killed in Gaza City strike

One of the founders of Hamas and among those who planned the October 7 onslaught was killed in an airstrike in Gaza City last night, the IDF announces.

Hakem al-Issa, who served as chief of staff at the “combat and administrative support division” in the terror group’s military wing, was killed in a strike in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City, according to the military.

The IDF says Issa was a “central source of knowledge and one of the last senior Hamas operatives who held high-level positions before October 7 and remained in the Gaza Strip.”

“In the past, Issa led Hamas’s force build-up efforts in the Gaza Strip, was one of the founders of the military wing’s operations division, served as head of the training division, and was a member of Hamas’s general military council,” the IDF says in a statement.

The military adds that “Issa played a significant role in planning and executing the murderous massacre on October 7.”

During the war, including in recent days, “Issa served as head of combat support, advancing terror plans from the air and sea against Israeli civilians and IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip,” the IDF says.

“Alongside advancing these plans, Issa worked to rebuild Hamas’s arrays that were damaged during the war,” the statement adds.