Hamas leader Marwan Issa died in Israeli air strike, US claims

According to White House spokesperson, Jake Sullivan, Hamas leader Marwan Issa, has died in an Israeli air strike. Marwan was also Hamas’ deputy military commander.

Marwan would be the organization’s most senior leader to die since the conflict began on October 7, 2023. However, the Palestinian party that administers Gaza has not formally responded to news that Hamas leader Marwan Issa has died.

As deputy military commander, Mr Issa would be Hamas's most senior leader to die since the war began on 7 October.https://t.co/H5ZABoKU7H
— TheStarKenya (@TheStarKenya) March 19, 2024

According to Mr. Jake, the White House’s national security adviser, other Hamas commanders are believed to be hiding “likely deep in the Hamas tunnel network” in Gaza.

He promised that the US would support Israel in its ongoing search for top Hamas officials. He stressed that justice would be served to them as well.

However, he emphasized that US President Joe Biden had conveyed his growing concern over the mounting number of civilian casualties in Gaza during a phone discussion with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, their first contact in a month.

Mr. Jake also said the US president repeated his support for Israel and its “right to go after Hamas. But he also stated that Israel’s military invasion of Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where an estimated million people have fled during the war, would be a “mistake.”

According to Israeli media reports, Marwan died in an attack on a tunnel complex. The tunnel lay beneath the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza last week.

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Since October 7, the Israeli force claimed to have murdered several key Hamas commanders. Saleh al-Arouri, a Hamas political leader, died in an explosion in Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh. Israel is responsible for this strike.

However, the deputy leader of Hamas’ military arm, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, was among Israel’s most wanted men. The European Union placed him on its terrorist blacklist and tied him to the group’s attack on October 7. It has killed around 1,200 Israelis.
Israel imprisoned Izzedine for five years during the first Palestinian uprising. The Palestinian Authority arrested him in 1997 until the start of the second uprising in 2000.