By Nidal al-Mughrabi
CAIRO (Reuters) – Israel on Thursday claimed it had killed the head of Hamas’ military wing in the latest of a series of targeted actions against the leadership of the militant group, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy.
Mohammed Deif is believed to have been one of the masterminds of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, which triggered the Gaza war. Hamas has not confirmed his death.
On Wednesday, the group’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran in an attack that Hamas and Iran have blamed on Israel, which has not claimed responsibility.
Here are some of the remaining leaders and commanders in Hamas.
MARWAN ISSA
In March, Israel said it had killed Marwan Issa, Deif’s deputy, but Hamas has not confirmed his death.
Issa, nicknamed the “shadow man” by fellow Palestinians for his ability to stay off the enemy’s radar, had risen to No. 3 within the Islamist militant group. He and the other two top Hamas leaders formed a secretive three-man military council that made strategic decisions.
YEHYA SINWAR
Sinwar, released from an Israeli prison in 2011 during a swap deal between Israel and Hamas, is the group’s chief in Gaza and another of the masterminds of the Oct. 7 attack.
Sinwar is still believed to be directing military operations, possibly from bunkers in a vast network of tunnels beneath Gaza, while calling the shots in indirect negotiations with Israel for a truce and prisoner swap deal.
KHALED MESHAAL
Meshaal, 68, is tipped to become the new paramount leader of Hamas to replace Haniyeh, Hamas sources said. He had previously led Hamas between 2004 and 2017.
Meshaal became known around the world in 1997 when Israeli agents injected him with a poison in the Jordanian capital Amman in a botched assassination mission.
KHALIL AL-HAYYA
Hayya is Sinwar’s deputy and has recently been leading the Hamas team in indirect ceasefire talks with Israel under the supervision of Haniyeh. Hayya was in the same residence when Haniyeh was struck by a missile in Tehran, but not in the same apartment at the time of the strike.
He has survived two direct Israeli attempts to kill him. In 2007, an Israeli strike hit the house of his extended family killing several of his relatives and in 2014 an attack on his house killed his eldest son.
MAHMOUD AL-ZAHAR
Zahar was a surgeon by profession. Friends and enemies used to call him “General” for his hardline views towards Israel and other opponents of Hamas.
Zahar has made no public statement or appearance since Oct. 7 and his fate remains unknown.
The 79-year-old official survived an Israeli assassination attempt in 2003. He served as the first Hamas-appointed minister of foreign affairs after the group assumed power in Gaza in 2007 in a brief civil war with the secular Palestinian Authority, a year after it swept a parliamentary election.
MOHAMMAD SHABANA
Shabana, better known as Abu Anas Shabana, is one of the remaining top and veteran armed commanders of Hamas, heading its battalion in Rafah in the south.
Hamas sources said Shabana played a significant role in developing the network of tunnels in Rafah, which were used to attack Israeli troops along the border, including a cross-border attack in 2006 in which Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was captured.
Shabana took charge of the Rafah battalion after Israel killed three main commanders of the group during a 50-day war in 2014, during which the Islamist faction said it had abducted two Israeli soldiers.
RAWHI MUSHTAHA
Mushtaha is Sinwar’s confidant and strongest ally within Hamas. Together with Sinwar, Mushtaha founded the first Hamas security apparatus in the late 1980s that was responsible for tracking and killing Palestinians accused of spying for Israel.
He was released from an Israeli prison along with Sinwar in 2011 and has recently been tasked with coordinating between the group in Gaza and Egyptian security officials over a range of issues including the operation of the Rafah border crossing.
His fate remains unclear.
(Reporting and writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Michael Georgy and Sharon Singleton)
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