• Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing has been confirmed dead following an Israeli airstrike.
• Targeted killings of several senior Hamas and Hezbollah members highlights Israel’s capabilities of targeting Hamas despite heavy civilian casualties.
Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, has been confirmed dead following an Israeli airstrike over a week ago, as stated by White House official Jake Sullivan. Marwan Issa was considered one of Hamas’ most senior leaders and was described as “Hamas’ number 3”. He was killed in a targeted strike on an underground compound in central Gaza and his death highlights the capabilities of the Israeli military in terms of targeting Hamas or Hezbollah members. Despite these capabilities, Israel still insists that it has to attack densely populated civilian areas like hospitals and schools.
As the deputy to Mohammed Deif, the leader of Hamas’ military wing and the most wanted man by the Israeli military, Marwan Issa played a crucial role in the organization’s operations. Serving since 2012, he held key positions within Hamas’ military council and political office in Gaza, under the oversight of Yahya Sinwar, the group’s highest-ranking official in the enclave. Issa’s responsibilities included strategic coordination between Hamas’ military and political leadership. Furthermore, Issa being targeted may be a result of Israel believing he was involved in the planning of October 7th.
While Marwan Issa’s death is a blow to Hamas, experts caution that it is unlikely to have a crippling impact on the organization’s capabilities. Hamas has a history of quickly replacing its leaders, and Issa’s absence is not expected to derail the group’s activities significantly. Despite his valuable contributions, his role did not involve direct command over fighters, lessening the immediate operational impact of his death. He was described as a “decisive and quite” figure by Gerhard Conrad, a former German intelligence officer who knew him and that he maintained a low profile and rarely appeared in public. Maj. Gen. Tamir Hayman, the former Israeli military intelligence chief, said Issa was simultaneously Hamas’s “defence minister”, its deputy military commander and its “strategic mind.” He was known for his strategic acumen and meticulous attention to detail, particularly in his involvement in negotiations, such as prisoner exchanges between Hamas and Israel. Despite his relatively low public profile, Issa played a significant behind-the-scenes role in shaping Hamas’s strategy and operations.
In his rare public statements, Issa expressed unwavering support for Hamas’s resistance against Israel, praising militant actions as heroic and advanced. His death underscores Israel’s military capabilities in comparison to Hamas. He has also said to Al Jazeera that “Even if the resistance in Palestine is monitored by the enemy at all hours, it will surprise the enemy”. The loss of Marwan Issa is a setback for Hamas but is unlikely to alter the dynamics of the conflict significantly apart from raising the already high tensions.
