Reports: Ministers told signs point to successful hit on Hamas number 3 Marwan Issa
Security cabinet informed evidence piling up that top commander is dead after Gaza strike, though terror group has yet to comment
Security officials briefed ministers at Friday’s security cabinet meeting that all signs indicate Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’s military wing and the terror group’s third topmost official in Gaza, was killed when he was targeted by an IDF strike earlier this week, Hebrew media reported.
The IDF on Monday confirmed that it had targetted Issa in a strike on central Gaza’s Nuseirat last week, but said at the time it did not have enough information to confirm whether the hit was successful.
On Friday, security officials told the security cabinet meeting that the signs of success were piling up, but the army warned that the matter had not yet been fully verified while Hamas still refrained from confirming or denying its number three had been killed in the attack.
Hebrew media quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailing the news as “a great achievement for Israel” and saying that “they will all die, we will reach them all.”
Issa serves as the deputy of Mohammed Deif, the head of Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Together with Hamas’s leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, they are believed to have masterminded the group’s October 7 massacre in southern Israel that triggered the war.
Known as the “Shadow Man,” Issa was known for long evading the IDF and rarely made public appearances.
If Issa was indeed killed in the strike, he would be the IDF’s most significant kill in its war with Hamas so far, as it has killed various leading commanders but has not reached the top of the hierarchy.
