Israeli military says it killed head of Hamas’ military wing
The Israeli military said it killed Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the head of Hamas’ military wing. Hamas confirmed al-Haddad died, according to The Associated Press.
Al-Haddad’s family told the AP he died in a strike Friday, as well as six other people, including his wife and daughter. Two of his sons were killed earlier on in the Israel-Hamas war, they said.
Two Israeli defense officials speaking on the condition of anonymity said to The New York Times that the airstrike hit a building in Gaza, and that the Israeli Air Force also struck around the structure. CNN reported that Israel struck a residential building in a neighborhood near Gaza City on Friday afternoon. A second strike then targeted a car on a street close to the building, CNN wrote, citing emergency services in Gaza.
The director of Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, told the news outlet that the medical complex received the bodies of three women and a child from the strikes. Palestine Red Crescent Society paramedics who responded to the two sites took almost 30 wounded patients to Al-Saraya Field Hospital.
Local media reported that there was a funeral procession for al-Haddad in Gaza City on Saturday.
Israel alleged that al-Haddad was one of the senior commanders involved in the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, where 1,200 Israelis were killed and 250 were taken hostage.
His death comes months after a ceasefire agreement was announced in October. Despite this agreement, though, Gaza’s Health Ministry reports that Israeli forces have killed more than 850 people in Palestinian territory in almost daily attacks. Since the war started, more than 72,700 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes, the Health Ministry says.
In addition, experts say Israel also violated the ceasefire by taking control of Palestinian territory beyond truce lines and putting a blockade on humanitarian aid and equipment to remove rubble, according to the New York Times.
Israeli officials have also accused Hamas of violating the agreement by attempting to recoup its military abilities.
Attacks on Palestinians have also continued in the occupied West Bank. Israeli troops shot and killed a 34-year-old Palestinian, Hassan Fayyad, in the Jenin refugee camp, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. Israel’s military maintained that they fired warning shots at someone trying to infiltrate the camp, according to the AP, and shot him when he didn’t comply. This follows Israeli troops shooting and killing a 15-year-old boy in Eastern Lubban town in Nablus on Thursday.
Earlier this week, Palestinian and Israeli media outlets reported that settlers in the West Bank set fire to a mosque and several vehicles the village of Jibya. The mosque was also sprayed with graffiti.
Deputy Special Coordinator for the United Nation’s Middle East Peace Process on Saturday condemned the attacks, which he said come “against the backdrop of rising settler violence and intensifying attacks in the occupied West Bank, which continue to endanger civilians and damage their property.”
“As the Occupying Power, Israel has a responsibility to ensure that the civilian population is protected against all acts of violence,” he said. “I call for an immediate and transparent investigation, and for all perpetrators to be held accountable.”
The AP reports that the Israeli army said it is investigating.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
