Hamas intelligence chief Mohammed Odeh has been selected to replace Izz al-Din al-Haddad as the terror group’s leader in Gaza and chief of its military wing, the Saudi Asharq Al-Awsat news outlet reports.
Al-Haddad was killed in an Israeli strike on Friday.
Odeh, who was the head of military intelligence in Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades during the October 7, 2023, attacks, is said by the Saudi news outlet to have been close to al-Haddad and had worked with him to “renew the organizational structure” of Hamas following the assassination of its former leaders Muhammad Deif and Muhammad Sinwar.
Citing a source familiar with the details, Asharq Al-Awsat reports that Odeh was initially approached to lead the al-Qassam Brigades following Sinwar’s assassination in May last year, but declined.
According to the outlet, Odeh was tasked with gathering intelligence on IDF bases near the Gaza border and on weak points in the military’s Gaza Division in the run-up to October 7.
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