Israel Says It Killed Hamas Military Commander Ezzedine Al-Haddad

Israeli forces killed Ezzedine Al-Haddad, commander of Hamas's armed wing, in an airstrike in Gaza City on Friday, the Israeli military said Saturday. The military described Al-Haddad as one of the last senior commanders who directed the planning and execution of the October 7 attacks and said he also managed the group's hostage system.

The strike hit a residential building in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City, according to a Hamas official. Al-Haddad was killed along with his wife and a daughter, the official added. Photographs showed mourners carrying his body, wrapped in a Hamas flag, through the streets for burial after prayers at a mosque.

Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel is close to completing a key war aim of eliminating all architects of the October 7 attacks. "I promised that every single architect of the massacre and the hostage-taking would be eliminated down to the last one, and we are very close to completing this mission," Netanyahu said during the weekly cabinet meeting.

He also said Israeli forces currently control 60 percent of Gaza's territory and that the mission is to ensure Gaza will never again pose a threat to Israel.

Israel's military campaign in Gaza since the October 2023 attacks has killed at least 72,763 people, the majority of them civilians, according to the territory's health ministry. At least 856 Palestinians have been killed since an October ceasefire took effect, the health ministry said.

The Israeli military said five soldiers have been killed in Gaza over the same period. Despite the ceasefire, both sides have accused each other of violations as Israeli strikes continue.