Israel’s army said Monday it had killed a Hamas official inside Gaza City’s al-Shifa medical complex, an operation that unfolded as experts warned that the northern part of the enclave may already be in the grip of famine.
Israel claimed that Mr Issa was killed in an Israeli air strike that targeted a tunnel complex under the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza a week ago.
The deputy commander of Hamas’s military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, was considered one of Israel’s most wanted men.
The European Union, which placed the Hamas leader on its terrorist blacklist, linked him directly to the 7 October attack led by the group which killed approximately 1,200 people and sparked the war.
As deputy military commander, Mr Issa would be Hamas’s most senior leader to die since the war began on 7 October.
The Palestinian group, which controls Gaza, has not officially commented on reports of his death.
The White House, meanwhile, confirmed that Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’s military wing, was killed in an Israeli strike earlier this month in central Gaza.
