Among Israel’s spies, he is known as “the ghost”.

He closely supervised some of the worst massacres of the Oct 7 Hamas attack, and in the months since has played a key role in holding the terror group together in the face of the IDF’s assault.

Now, as the presumed new Hamas commander in Gaza, Izz al-Din al-Haddad holds the fate of the hostages and, to a large extent, the entire Strip in his blood-stained hands.

“He was always recognised by our people as one of the more capable commanders,” said Maj Gen Yaakov Amidror, Israel’s former national security adviser.

“He is cautious. They’re all cautious, but he’s had some luck as well. He never made the mistake that allowed us to kill him.”

Maj Gen Amidror speaks ruefully – Israel is believed to have tried to assassinate Haddad six times since 2008.

Eighteen months into the longest war in the Jewish state’s history, he is now believed to be the last man standing of the five brigade commanders on the eve of Oct 7.

As such, when the IDF finally killed Mohammed Sinwar by flattening the tunnel in which he was hiding in the grounds of a hospital last month, Haddad, believed to be 55, assumed command.

It follows the assassination of top-level figures Mohammed Deif in July 2024 and Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s supreme Gaza commander, in October that year.