Israel killed the top military commander of Hamas on Friday in a targeted airstrike in Gaza City, eliminating the man Israel called the last architect of the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre that left more than 1,200 people dead.
Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the highest-ranking military commander of Hamas and the last leader of the Oct. 7 attack still operating in the Gaza Strip, was confirmed killed by the IDF on Saturday. Hamas also confirmed his death, with witnesses in Gaza reporting that mosques across the Strip had announced his killing and that his funeral was held Saturday afternoon after his body was identified by family members.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir described the operation as a significant achievement, saying that Haddad’s name had come up repeatedly in his conversations with former hostages. “Today, we succeeded in eliminating him. The IDF will continue to pursue our enemies, strike them, and hold accountable everyone who took part in the October 7 massacre,” Mr. Zamir said.
Mr. Zamir credited the operation to the IDF’s Southern Command, the Intelligence Directorate, the Air Force and the Shin Bet domestic security service.
According to Israeli officials cited by the Jerusalem Post and Times of Israel, the strike was approved by the political leadership roughly a week and a half before it was carried out, during which time Haddad was kept under continuous surveillance. It was executed Friday evening after intelligence officers identified what officials described as a high-probability window for a successful elimination. Prior to the strike, the Air Force executed a deception operation intended to keep Hamas’s military wing and Haddad’s inner circle on low alert.
Haddad joined Hamas in the 1980s and became one of its longest-surviving commanders. He had been a member of the terror group’s military wing since its founding in 1987. He had previously led the Hamas Gaza City Brigade, during which time the IDF said he directed the planning and execution of the October 7 massacre and oversaw combat operations against Israeli troops.
Haddad rose to lead Hamas’s military wing after the May 2025 killing of Mohammed Sinwar, the brother of Yahya Sinwar, who orchestrated the 2023 assault. According to the Wall Street Journal, Israel had placed a $750,000 bounty on Haddad over his role in the attack, which he had survived through multiple previous assassination attempts.
Throughout the war, Haddad managed the Hamas hostage captivity system and surrounded himself with Israeli hostages in an effort to prevent his elimination, the IDF said. The last 20 living hostages in Gaza were freed on Oct. 13, 2025, as part of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal, though the return of remains continued in the months that followed.
News of the strike drew an immediate response from several former hostages whom Haddad had personally held. One said he had planned her abduction and kept her in Hamas tunnels during her captivity.
In a joint statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said Haddad had been responsible for the murder, abduction and harm inflicted on thousands of Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers, and that he had refused to implement a U.S.-brokered agreement aimed at dismantling Hamas and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip.
The IDF said the Southern Command has been placed on heightened operational readiness in anticipation of a potential retaliatory strike by Hamas.
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