IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari confirmed on Tuesday evening that Marwan Issa, the deputy head of Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades, was killed in an airstrike in central Gaza earlier this month.
The IDF confirmed earlier this month that Issa was targeted in an airstrike in Nuseirat in central Gaza but said they were unable to confirm without a doubt that he was killed in the strike until now.
Along with Issa, Hagari added that the IDF eliminated Ghazi Abu Tama’ah, a senior member of Hamas’s military council. Abu Tama’ah was the head of Hamas’s combat support staff and served as one of the main decision-makers for military matters in Hamas.
“They were eliminated in a complex and precise strike, based on the intelligence of the Intelligence Directorate and the Shin Bet who worked together, along with the unusual execution and attack capabilities of the Air Force,” said Hagari. “We will continue the supreme effort to pursue and reach the leaders of Hamas.”
Hagari added that in the ongoing operation in Shifa Hospital, the IDF arrested Radwan Yunes Kamal Tapash, an official responsible for metal turning in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hashem Muhammad Hassen Bash, a senior official responsible for finances and acquisitions within Hamas, and Bachar Ahmad Bachar Kanita, a senior official in Hamas’s defense and security administration.
Hagari said that in recent days, the IDF has arrested over 500 terrorists, including several senior terrorists, and that he would “list who he could.”
Terrorists still barricaded in several wards at Shifa hospital
The spokesperson added that there are still terrorists barricaded in the maternity ward, the Qatari building, the emergency room, and the laundry at Shifa Hospital and that fighting is ongoing.
“Hamas is destroying Shifa Hospital,” said Hagari. “Hamas uses the civilians in the hospital as human shields and puts them at risk. Not only that, Hamas spreads lies on social media and on the Al-Jazeera channel about harming civilians in the hospital. Not a single citizen, not a single patient, not a doctor or medical staff member was harmed in this operation - only terrorists. On the contrary, the IDF took the sick, moved them to a building that provided them with treatment, assistance, and medical equipment, unlike Hamas.”
“While Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists are hiding in hospitals and tunnels, and hoarding humanitarian supplies at the expense of innocent citizens in Gaza, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad al-Nakhala are visiting their patrons in Iran today,” added the IDF spokesperson. “Instead of discussing the conditions that would allow a truce in Gaza, they choose to discuss an escalation in Iran with Iran's leaders. Hamas and the GA continue to receive instructions from Iran.”