The IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) killed Hakham Muhammad Issa al-Issa, a senior member of Hamas’s military wing, in extensive Friday strikes on the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City, the two security organizations announced Saturday night.
His most recent role was head of combat support operations in the military wing. He is considered one of the organization’s founders.
Issa was a central knowledge figure and one of the last remaining senior Hamas leaders who held high-ranking positions prior to October 7, 2023, and was still in the Gaza Strip.
He was involved in planning the October 7 massacre and establishing the organization’s training infrastructure. The senior terrorist was reportedly with his wife and grandson during the strike.
Issa arrived in Gaza in 2005 from Syria, according to Ynet. He combined the combat experience he gained in Iraq and Syria with scientific and technical knowledge.
Reportedly a co-founder of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades’ military academy, he led the training of thousands of terrorists and influenced the structure of the military wing.
IDF's previous assassination in Gaza
Last Friday, the IDF announced the deaths of Kataib al-Mujahideen’s military wing commander, Mahmoud Muhammad Hamid Kuhail, also known as Abu al-Mu’tasim, as well as As’ad Abu Sharaiya, head of the terrorist organization. They were killed in an airstrike in central Gaza.
Kataib al-Mujahideen (Holy Warriors Brigades), the armed wing of the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement, has been linked to the October 7 massacre in Israel that included the abduction and murder of Shiri Bibas and her children, Kfir and Ariel, as well as the killing of Israeli-American-Canadian couple Judy Weinstein-Haggai and Gadi Haggai and several Thai foreign workers.
Security sources describe Kataib al-Mujahideen as relatively small but highly lethal and compartmentalized, which has allowed it to operate under the radar of the IDF and evade intelligence monitoring.