Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Saturday, May 16 that Israel was close to eliminating all those responsible for orchestrating the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks, following the reported killing of senior Hamas military commander Ezzedine Al-Haddad in Gaza.
Netanyahu’s remarks came after the Israeli military announced that Al-Haddad, a top commander in Hamas’s armed wing, had been killed in an airstrike in Gaza City. Israeli officials described him as one of the main planners of the October 7 attacks and among the last remaining senior Hamas military leaders still operating inside Gaza.
Israel has spent months targeting Hamas’s senior leadership across Gaza and the wider region since the October 7 attacks, which killed around 1,200 people in Israel and saw more than 250 hostages abducted. Israeli officials say the campaign aims to dismantle Hamas’s military and political infrastructure, although fighting and airstrikes have continued despite a fragile ceasefire agreement reached last year. The country has claimed responsibility for assassinating Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, regarded as architects of the pogrom.
