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Anshel Pfeffer

ByAnshel Pfeffer, Anshel Pfeffer

Opinion

Will targeted killings of Hamas chiefs make any difference?

Marwan Issa may be Israel’s latest hit but there are plenty of others ready to take his place

March 12, 2024 16:13
Marwan Issa creditThe photo or its source could not be immediately verified
Marwan Issa (centre) in 2011 with fellow Hamas chiefs Saleh al-Arouri (left) and Ahmed Jabari, both assassinated by Israel
5 min read

The last known photograph of Marwan Issa, who may or may not have died in an Israeli strike last Saturday night, is from October 2011. It was taken in Gaza City at the celebrations held for the release of Hamas members from Israeli prison as part of the Shalit Deal. Among them was Yihya Sinwar, the undisputed leader of Hamas prisoners who had played a key role in the negotiations leading to exchange of 1,027 Palestinians for one Israeli soldier.

It was a fateful moment where the clock started ticking towards the October 7 attack 12 years later. In his speech at the rally Sinwar promised those still in Israeli prisons that more operations were in store that would secure their release.

In the photograph, Issa, then Hamas’s operations commander, can be seen standing between two other men. To his right was Ahmed Jabari, then the chief of staff of the military wing, the Al Qassam Brigades, who had played a key role in capturing and hiding the IDF soldier Gilad Shalit for five years. Earlier that day he had handed Shalit to the Egyptians at the border.

A year later, Jabari was assassinated by Israel in a drone strike in Gaza. Issa took his place as chief of staff, second in the military hierarchy to Mohammed Def.