Gaza medics said Israel killed at least seven Palestinians, including a child, in airstrikes on Friday that Israel said targeted Hamas’ armed wing chief, though neither Israel nor the militants said whether he had been killed or wounded.
Hamas did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the fate of Izz al-Din al-Haddad, who became the militant group’s military chief in the Gaza Strip after Israel’s killing of commander Mohammad Sinwar in May 2025.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a joint statement with his defence minister that Haddad was an architect of the October 7, 2023, attacks that precipitated Israel’s two-year assault on the Palestinian territory.He is the most senior Hamas official targeted with a strike by Israel since an October US-backed deal that was meant to halt fighting in Gaza.
The attack comes as Israel and Hamas remain deadlocked in talks to advance US President Donald Trump’s post-war plan for Gaza.
Medics in Gaza said at least seven people, including three women and a child, were killed and at least 50 were injured in airstrikes targeting an apartment and a vehicle. It was not immediately clear if Haddad was one of the dead.
In their joint statement, Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said Haddad “was responsible for the murder, abduction, and harm inflicted on thousands of Israeli civilians (and) soldiers.”
