Hamas military chief killed in Gaza by Israeli strike

TEL AVIV, Israel - The Israeli military and the domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet have confirmed the death of Hamas's military chief in the Gaza Strip.

Izz ad-Din al-Haddad was killed in an Israeli airstrike the previous day, they said on Saturday.

Al-Haddad was described in a statement as one of the architects of the terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists and other Islamists killed about 1,200 people in Israel and abducted more than 250 to the Gaza Strip.

Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement: "This is a clear message to all the murderers who seek our lives: sooner or later, Israel will get you."

Authorization to kill al-Haddad had apparently been granted around one and a half weeks earlier, and he had been under constant surveillance since then.

Hamas also confirmed al-Haddad's death in a statement from the organization's military brigade.

His family had previously reported that al-Haddad, his wife and one of his daughters were killed in the Israeli strike in Gaza City on Friday. Al-Haddad was buried in Gaza in the afternoon.

People carried portraits of the Hamas commander ahead of the funeral procession, his body draped in a Hamas flag.

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This story was originally published May 16, 2026 at 4:46 PM.