{"id":803281,"date":"2026-05-17T17:16:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T17:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/803281\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T17:16:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T17:16:13","slug":"how-will-izz-al-din-al-haddad-assassination-impact-hamass-gaza-operations-drone-strikes-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/803281\/","title":{"rendered":"How will Izz al-Din al-Haddad assassination impact Hamas\u2019s Gaza operations? | Drone Strikes News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The killing of Izz al-Din al-Haddad<\/a>, the recently appointed head of Qassam Brigades<\/a>, the armed wing of Hamas, has dealt a symbolic blow to the Palestinian group in Gaza, but the impact on its military operations is far from certain.<\/p>\n

Al-Haddad was killed on Friday<\/a> in a sophisticated dual-strike on a residential apartment in Gaza City\u2019s Remal neighbourhood and a vehicle attempting to flee the scene. The delivery of heavy munitions into a densely populated area, packed with displaced civilians, killed seven other Palestinians, including women and children, and wounded 50 people.<\/p>\n

Yet, despite Israeli claims that the killing will cripple the group\u2019s operational capacity, analysts argue that its decentralised nature is built to absorb such shocks. As the region watches to see how the resistance faction will respond, al-Haddad\u2019s death raises critical questions about the future of the fragile \u201cceasefire\u201d and who remains to lead the Qassam Brigades.<\/p>\n

Operational impact: Will the Qassam Brigades collapse?<\/p>\n

The killings of Qassam Brigades commanders, including Mohammed Deif, Marwan Issa, and Yahya Sinwar\u2019s brother Mohammed, left al-Haddad as the key military figure managing the fight against Israel.<\/p>\n

Saeed Ziad, a Palestinian political analyst, told Al Jazeera that while the loss is a \u201cmassive symbolic and moral blow\u201d to Palestinians, the immediate operational impact on Hamas\u2019s armed wing will be limited.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Qassam Brigades are not built on a hierarchical, sequential structure, but a parallel one,\u201d Ziad explained. \u201cOver the past two decades, Hamas has transitioned into a decentralised guerrilla force. Units operate as isolated, self-sufficient groups with their own logistical supply lines and combat doctrines.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a brigade or battalion loses its commander, the group already knows its mission and has the resources to execute it independently,\u201d he said. Reorganising the Qassam Brigades\u2019 central command to cope with the loss will likely take mere days, not months.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, al-Haddad had successfully utilised the October ceasefire with Israel to rebuild the group\u2019s infrastructure. \u201cOver the past 200 days, he reconstructed the resistance\u2019s capabilities \u2013 its tunnels, weaponry and combat formations \u2013 making it capable of defending itself once again,\u201d Ziad noted.<\/p>\n

Who is left in the Hamas military leadership?<\/p>\n

Israeli officials have boasted that they are close to dismantling Hamas\u2019s central command, claiming that only two members of the military council before the pre-October 2023 attacks on Israel \u2013 Mohammed Owda and Imad Aqel \u2013 are alive.<\/p>\n

However, analysts point out that Hamas\u2019s military wing, which boasted roughly 50,000 fighters before the war, possesses a deep bench of cadres and a strict protocol for leadership succession that enables it to quickly recover when commanders are killed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe resistance typically appoints a first, second, and third deputy for every active commander, from the general commander down to the platoon leaders,\u201d Ziad said. \u201cFilling these voids happens rapidly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamas immediately confirmed Haddad\u2019s death, with spokesperson Hazem Qassem officially mourning him as the \u201cGeneral Commander\u201d of the Qassam Brigades. He stressed that despite his death being a \u201cmassive loss\u201d, the group\u2019s \u201clong journey of resistance continues\u201d.<\/p>\n

The \u2018Ghost\u2019 of the Qassam Brigades<\/p>\n

Born in the early 1970s, al-Haddad joined Hamas upon its inception in 1987. He rose through the ranks from an infantry soldier to commander of the group\u2019s Gaza City Brigade, overseeing six battalions \u2013 each consisting of 1,000 fighters plus 4,000 support personnel.<\/p>\n

He played a foundational role in establishing al-Majd \u2013 Hamas\u2019s internal security apparatus designed to track down Israeli intelligence collaborators. But it was his ability to survive multiple assassination attempts \u2013 including bombings of his home in 2009, 2012, 2021, and three separate times during the current genocidal war on Gaza \u2013 that earned him the moniker \u201cGhost\u201d.<\/p>\n

Al-Haddad left an indelible strategic mark on the movement as a primary architect of the October 7, 2023 attacks. He personally oversaw the breach of the eastern fence, directed elite units that stormed the Re\u2019im military base and the Fajja outpost. According to intelligence reports, it was al-Haddad who handed localised commanders a paper hours before the attack detailing the operation and ordering the capture of Israeli soldiers.<\/p>\n

In January 2025, an Israeli air raid killed his son, Suhaib, but al-Haddad survived and continued to command operations and oversee the detention of Israeli captives until a deal was reached.<\/p>\n

A fragile \u2018ceasefire\u2019 on the brink<\/p>\n

Shortly after Friday\u2019s strike, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz issued a rare joint statement, boasting that the killing was carried out under their direct orders.<\/p>\n

Mohannad Mustafa, an analyst of Israeli affairs, said al-Haddad\u2019s killing shows that Israel is attempting to \u201cnormalise\u201d blatant violations of the \u201cceasefire\u201d agreement, while the Netanyahu-Katz statement was an appeal to Washington to allow it to continue the killing campaign. At least 871 Palestinians have been killed since the \u201cceasefire\u201d was announced on October 10, 2025, most of them civilians.<\/p>\n

\u201cNetanyahu is pitching this to the US administration as a necessary step to \u2018disarm Hamas\u2019 under the Trump plan,\u201d Mustafa told Al Jazeera. \u201cBut the reality is that Israel never wanted this ceasefire. It was imposed on them.\u201d<\/p>\n

By systematically killing civilians, police, and military figures without offering immediate justifications for \u201cceasefire\u201d breaches, Israel aims to provoke a response. \u201cThe ultimate goal is to force Hamas to retaliate, leading to the collapse of the agreement and giving Israel the green light to launch \u2018Gideon 2\u2019 \u2013 a military operation to occupy the entirety of the Gaza Strip,\u201d Mustafa added.<\/p>\n

With Netanyahu lacking a definitive strategic victory, such as the total surrender of Hamas, Ziad said the Israeli leadership is now leaning heavily on a \u201cphilosophy of assassinations\u201d to project a \u201cpicture of victory\u201d to its domestic base.<\/p>\n

But history has shown that killings of leading military figures, such as al-Haddad, rarely have a significant long-term impact on armed Palestinian movements like Hamas.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the fighters and the society in Gaza, these killings create a blood covenant,\u201d Ziad said. \u201cIt hardens their resolve. Retreating after the loss of leaders like Deif, Sinwar, or Haddad is viewed as a betrayal of that blood.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The killing of Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the recently appointed head of Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":803282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[18298,70,4527,99,13191,3097,1802,50,4851],"class_list":{"0":"post-803281","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-drone-strikes","9":"tag-gaza","10":"tag-hamas","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-israel-palestine-conflict","13":"tag-middle-east","14":"tag-military","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-palestine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116591053173419687","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}