Hamas said this Saturday (16) that the assassination of the leader of the organization’s armed wing was a “dangerous and unprecedented violation of the ceasefire”.
Israel’s military said that in a , leader of Hamas’ armed wing and the group’s most senior officer killed by Israel since a US-backed ceasefire agreement in October.
Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Hazem Qassem, said this is an “expression of the mediators’ inability to force the occupation to implement what was agreed and to force it to put an end to these violations.”
Izz al-Din al-Haddad, who became the group’s military chief in Gaza after Israel’s takeover in May 2025, “was responsible for the murder, kidnapping and damage inflicted on thousands of civilians (and) Israeli soldiers,” Israel’s military said.
Israel and Hamas remain deadlocked in indirect negotiations to advance US President Donald Trump’s post-war plan for Gaza, which aims to end more than two years of fighting.
Israel has intensified its attacks on Gaza in the weeks since it halted joint strikes with the United States on Iran. Fire has been redirected toward the ruined Palestinian territory, where the military says Hamas fighters are tightening their control.
