Jerusalem has claimed that it has killed the Hamas terror commander behind the October 7th terror attacks in 2023 that saw over 1,200 people killed in Southern Israel and hundreds more taken captive.
One of the key architects behind the deadliest series of terror attacks in the history of the Jewish state has been killed, the Times of Israel reported on Saturday. The Israel Defence Forces said that he was killed in a “precise strike” in Gaza City on Friday evening.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir is quoted by the paper in announcing the killing of the head of Hamas’s armed terrorist wing, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, whom he said was central to the deadly attacks that sparked a war in Gaza.
“This is a significant operational success by the IDF led by the Southern Command, the Intelligence Directorate, the Air Force and the Shin Bet,” Lt. Gen. Zamir said.
“In every conversation I held with the hostages who returned, the name of the arch-terrorist, Izz al-Din al-Haddad — one of the main figures responsible for the October 7 massacre and the head of Hamas’s military wing — came up again and again,” he added.
“Today, we succeeded in eliminating him. The IDF will continue to pursue our enemies, strike, and settle accounts with everyone who took part in the October 7 massacre,” Zamir vowed.
The IDF leader said that the Israeli Southern Command has been instructed to “maintain high operational readiness” in case the Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists seek to strike Israel in a revenge attack.
According to Jerusalem, Haddad had taken over as the top military commander of the Hamas terror group in May of 2025 following the killing of Mohammed Sinwar.
Prior to that, he is said to have served as the head of the Hamas Gaza City Brigade, during which time he “directed the planning and execution of the October 7 massacre and the management of combat operations against IDF troops.”
“Throughout the war, Haddad was involved in the holding of many Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity. Haddad managed Hamas’s hostage captivity system and surrounded himself with hostages in an attempt to prevent his elimination,” the IDF said.
The former commander was also central in assisting the political wing of Hamas to keep control over the Gaza Strip, Israel claimed.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Haddad had previously survived multiple assassination attempts by Israel, which had placed a $750,000 bounty on his head over his involvement in the October 7th terror attacks, which included producing detaile plans on how to subdue and capture Israeli soldiers.
The brutal attacks saw around 3,000 armed Palestinian terrorists storm Southern Israel, attacking over 20 small communities, military bases and a music festival. The attacks saw around 1,200 people killed and over 250 people taken hostage by the terror group.