TEL AVIV: Hamas is investigating reports on Monday that its number three man in Gaza, Marwan Issa, was killed in an Israeli airstrike during the weekend.
The terror group has neither confirmed nor denied reports that Issa may have been killed while hiding in a building in the Nusseirat refugee camp in central Gaza that was hit by aircraft on either Saturday or Sunday.
In the Hamas hierarchy within Gaza, Issa ranks behind only Gaza strongman Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, the overall commander of Hamas forces.
The 59-year-old Issa, whose friends call him “Commando,” is Deif’s deputy and Hamas’s number two military figure. He is considered one of the most secretive and insidious senior officials in Hamas.
In his youth, Issa was a skilled basketball player before he was arrested by Israel and the Palestinian Authority. As he climbed the ranks of Hamas, Issa participated in a series of secret meetings in Egypt on deals for the release of Hamas prisoners. Together with Saleh Arouri, Issa played a central role in the Gilad Shalit deal, making sure Hamas prisoners were released with an eye towards the future benefit they would bring the terror organization.
Israel has tried to assassinate Issa in the past.
At least 1,200 people were killed and 240 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the remaining 134 hostages, Israel recently declared 31 of them dead.