Israel claimed today, Thursday, that it killed Mohammad Deif, the leader of the Ezzedin Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement "Hamas," in the latest series of operations targeting the movement's leaders that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to eliminate. Deif is believed to be one of the masterminds behind Hamas's attack on southern Israel on October 7, which ignited the ongoing Gaza war for the past ten months. Hamas has not confirmed his death.
Ismail Haniya, the head of Hamas's political bureau in Tehran, was assassinated yesterday, Wednesday, in an attack for which the movement and Iran hold Israel responsible.
Here are some of the remaining leaders and figures of Hamas:
**Marwan Issa**
Israel stated that it killed Marwan Issa, Deif's deputy, but Hamas has not confirmed his death. Issa, nicknamed "the Shadow Man" for his ability to evade enemy radar, has become the third man in Hamas. He, along with two other senior leaders of the movement, formed a secret military council of three members that makes strategic decisions.
**Yahya Sinwar**
He is the head of the Islamic Resistance Movement "Hamas" in the Gaza Strip and one of the masterminds behind the October 7 attack. Sinwar, who was released from an Israeli prison in 2011 during a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas, is believed to still be managing military operations, possibly from hideouts in a vast network of tunnels under Gaza, and making decisions in indirect negotiations with Israel regarding a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange deal.
**Khaled Mashal**
Sources within Hamas stated that Mashal (68 years old) is a candidate to become the new leader of Hamas, succeeding Haniya. He led Hamas from 2004 to 2017. Mashal gained global prominence in 1997 when he was injected with poison by Israeli agents in the Jordanian capital Amman in a failed assassination attempt.
**Khalil al-Hayya**
He is Sinwar's deputy and recently took on the leadership of the Hamas team in indirect talks with Israel regarding a ceasefire under Haniya's supervision. He was in the same building that a missile struck in Tehran but was not in the same apartment at the time of the strike. He survived two direct Israeli assassination attempts. An Israeli airstrike targeted his relatives' home in 2007, killing several of them, and his eldest son was killed in an attack on his home in 2014.
**Mahmoud al-Zahar**
A 79-year-old surgeon known as "the general" by friends and foes due to his hardline views towards Israel and Hamas's opponents. Al-Zahar has not publicly appeared or made statements since October 7, and his fate remains unknown. He survived an Israeli assassination attempt in 2003 and was the first foreign minister appointed by Hamas after it took power in Gaza in 2007 during a brief civil war with the Palestinian Authority, following its sweeping victory in parliamentary elections.
**Mohammad Shabaneh**
Known as Abu Anas Shabaneh, he is one of the remaining military leaders of Hamas, leading the movement's battalion in Rafah in southern Gaza. Hamas sources said that Shabaneh played a significant role in developing the tunnel network in Rafah, which was used to launch attacks against Israeli forces at the border, including a cross-border raid in 2006 that led to the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. He took command of the Rafah battalion after Israel killed three major Hamas leaders during a 50-day war in 2014, during which the battalion claimed to have abducted two Israeli soldiers.
**Ruhhi Mushtaha**
He is a trusted ally of Sinwar and a strong supporter within Hamas. He, together with Sinwar, established the first security apparatus for the movement in the late 1980s and was responsible for tracking and killing Palestinians accused of espionage for Israel. Israel released him from prison along with Sinwar in 2011, and he has recently been tasked with coordinating between Hamas in Gaza and Egyptian security officials on a range of issues, including the operation of the Rafah border crossing. His fate remains unknown.
