An Israeli airstrike in western Gaza City on Friday evening killed the head of Hamas’s Qassam Brigades — the man Israel describes as one of the last surviving senior commanders who planned and directed the October 7, 2023 massacre. Hamas confirmed the death Saturday, as his funeral was held in Gaza City.
The strike and its confirmation
The Israeli Defense Forces announced on Saturday that a precision airstrike carried out Friday evening in western Gaza City had killed Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the commander of Hamas’s military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. The operation was credited to a joint effort by the IDF’s Southern Command, the Military Intelligence Directorate, the Air Force, and the Shin Bet domestic security service. Hamas confirmed his death through a statement by spokesman Hazem Qassem on social media, describing the loss as “profound.” Al-Haddad’s family confirmed his death to the Associated Press.
Six other people were killed in the same strike, including al-Haddad’s wife and daughter. His two sons had been killed earlier in the war. His body was wrapped in Hamas and Palestinian flags and carried through Gaza City at a funeral held Saturday afternoon after his identity was confirmed by family members. Witnesses reported that mosques across the Gaza Strip announced his killing.
Who was Izz al-Din al-Haddad
Al-Haddad was one of Hamas’s longest-serving military commanders, having joined the organization in the 1980s — around the time of its founding in 1987. He was an early member of the Qassam Brigades’ Majd section, a unit responsible for internal security and targeting suspected collaborators with Israel. Over decades, he rose through the military wing’s command structure, eventually leading the Hamas Gaza City Brigade — the formation most directly responsible for directing the planning and execution of the October 7 attacks, according to the IDF.
He assumed command of Hamas’s entire military wing in May 2025, following the killing of Mohammed Sinwar — brother of Yahya Sinwar, the principal architect of the October 7 assault who was himself killed by Israeli forces in October 2024. Al-Haddad was the last member of the senior command tier that had planned and overseen the October 7 operation still operating inside Gaza. Israel had placed a $750,000 bounty on him and he had survived multiple previous assassination attempts throughout the war.
Key facts
KilledFriday evening, May 15, 2026 — confirmed Saturday May 16
LocationWestern Gaza City, Gaza Strip
Also killedHis wife, daughter, and four others — two sons killed earlier in the war
RoleCommander, Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas military wing)
Hamas member since1980s — one of the founding-era commanders
Bounty on his head$750,000 (placed by Israel)
Previous assassination attemptsMultiple — survived each until Friday’s strike
IDF forces involvedSouthern Command, Intelligence Directorate, Air Force, Shin Bet
His role in the October 7 attacks and the hostage system
The IDF described al-Haddad as one of the senior commanders who directed the planning and execution of the October 7, 2023 attacks — the largest massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed in southern Israel and more than 250 taken hostage into Gaza. He was also a member of Hamas’s Military Council, the highest command body that oversaw the assault. Throughout the war that followed, the IDF said he managed Hamas’s hostage captivity system — the mechanism through which Israeli and foreign hostages were held in Gaza — and deliberately surrounded himself with Israeli hostages as a human shield to deter Israeli targeting.
“In every conversation I held with the hostages who returned, the name of the arch-terrorist, Izz al-Din al-Haddad — one of the main figures responsible for the October 7 massacre and the head of Hamas’s military wing — came up again and again. Today, we succeeded in eliminating him. The IDF will continue to pursue our enemies, strike, and settle accounts with everyone who took part in the October 7 massacre.”
— Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, IDF Chief of Staff, May 16, 2026
IDF on heightened alert for retaliatory strike
Following the announcement, the IDF placed its Southern Command on heightened operational readiness in anticipation of a potential Hamas retaliatory strike. The killing comes at a moment of significant fragility in the broader regional situation: the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which has been in effect in Gaza, remains under strain, with the top diplomat overseeing it describing the process as stalled due to a deadlock over the disarmament of Hamas. The killing of al-Haddad — whom Hamas described as a profound loss — is likely to intensify those tensions.
Violence also escalates in the West Bank
Separately on Saturday, Israeli troops shot and killed a 34-year-old Palestinian man, Hassan Fayyad, in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry and the Palestinian Red Crescent. The IDF said troops had first fired warning shots at a person attempting to infiltrate the camp perimeter and opened fire when he failed to comply. The death adds to an already elevated pattern of violence in the West Bank running parallel to the Gaza war.
The broader campaign to eliminate the October 7 architects
Al-Haddad’s death represents a significant milestone in Israel’s stated objective of eliminating all senior figures responsible for the October 7 attacks. Yahya Sinwar — the overall mastermind of the assault — was killed by Israeli forces in October 2024. His brother Mohammed Sinwar, who had taken over as Hamas military commander, was killed in May 2025. Al-Haddad, who succeeded Mohammed Sinwar in that role, was now the last of the senior military tier killed. Whether any surviving Hamas political leadership retains the operational capacity to reconstitute a credible military command inside Gaza — or whether the organization can sustain its resistance to Israeli pressure from command positions outside the strip — will be among the central questions shaping the next phase of the conflict.
