Israel killed key Hamas organiser behind 7 October attacks, US says

White House official Jake Sullivan has said that senior Hamas figure Marwan Issa has been killed by Israel in Gaza, the Guardian reports.

Sullivan confirmed that Israeli forces had killed Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’s military wing in Gaza, and one of the masterminds of the 7 October attacks, in an operation last week, one of thousands of Hamas fighters he said had been killed. But he added: “A military plan cannot succeed without an integrated humanitarian plan and political plan.”

Neither Hamas nor Israel have officially commented on the reports. Issa had been linked directly to the decision to attack Israel on 7 October, a deadly assault which killed about 1,140 people and led to the current Israeli military offensive on Gaza.

At the weekend, my colleague Jason Burke in Jerusalem reported that Israeli officials believed Issa was dead. He wrote on Saturday that it was thought the deputy military leader of Hamas in Gaza died in an airstrike a week ago that targeted a tunnel complex under the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

All Hamas communications systems between senior leaders – which rely on encrypted apps and couriers – went silent for more than 72 hours after the strike, as has happened on several previous occasions when senior Hamas leaders have been killed.

The strike against Issa, one of the key organisers of the 7 October attack launched by Hamas on Israel, suggests Israel is getting information from a source high in the organisation, experts said.

“Israel would have needed to know where and when Issa was hiding, that he would remain there with time for the cabinet to approve and [Israeli’s military] to launch the operation, and would have needed to confirm that no Israeli captives were being held near him as human shields – something that could have only been confirmed via a human asset,” said Avi Melamed, a former Israeli intelligence official and regional analyst.