OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel said Saturday it had killed Hamas armed wing chief Ezzedine Al Haddad in an airstrike in Gaza the previous day, describing him as a key architect of the October 7 attacks.

 

Since October 7, 2023 war, the Israeli military and intelligence services have waged a campaign targeting the group's senior political leaders and commanders in Gaza and across the region.

 

The military said Friday it had carried out an airstrike in Gaza targeting Haddad, before confirming his death on Saturday.

 

Two Hamas officials also told AFP that Haddad had been killed in an Israeli strike.

 

"Senior commander... Ezzedine Al Haddad was assassinated in an Israeli strike targeting a residential apartment and a civilian vehicle in Gaza City yesterday," one senior Hamas official said.

 

A member of Hamas's armed wing separately confirmed his death.

 

Haddad was killed along with his wife and a daughter, according to another Hamas source.

 

AFP photographs showed mourners carrying Haddad's body, wrapped in a Hamas flag, on a stretcher from the ruins of a building.

 

It was later taken to a mosque where relatives and mourners offered prayers before carrying it through the streets for burial.

 

Over the course of the war, Israel has claimed responsibility for the assassinations of several Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, widely regarded as a mastermind of the October 7 attack.

 

It also killed Mohammed Deif, the longtime commander of Hamas's armed wing and another key architect of the attack.

 

Israeli strikes have also targeted Hamas operatives in Lebanon, as well as senior Hezbollah commanders allied with the group, including former Hizbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

 

Born in 1970, Haddad assumed command of the armed wing in May last year following the killing of his immediate predecessor, also in an Israeli strike, according to a Hamas source.

 

He had previously survived six assassination attempts by Israel, the source told AFP.

 

He was also a founder of Hamas's security service and oversaw prisoner exchanges, including those conducted under the ceasefire reached in October last year.

 

 

 

Militants also abducted 251 hostages to Gaza.

 

 

Israel's retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 72,700 people, according to the territory's health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority.

 

 

The figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

 

 

Despite an October ceasefire, Gaza remains gripped by daily violence as Israeli strikes continue, with both the military and Hamas accusing one another of violating the truce.

 

 

At least 856 Palestinians have been killed since the truce began, according to the territory's health ministry.

 

 

Over the same period, the Israeli military said five soldiers have been killed in Gaza.