Israel has killed Hamas’s “number four,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a short video statement on Monday, apparently confirming that Israel was behind the assassination of the terror group’s deputy political leader, Saleh al-Arouri, two months ago, while vowing that the military would soon reach the other top commanders.
The remarks came as Israel was investigating the fate of the terror group’s number three, Marwan Issa, one of the key figures involved in planning Hamas’s brutal October 7 massacre in southern Israel, who was reportedly targeted in an airstrike early Sunday.
“We are on the way to total victory. On the way to this victory, we already eliminated number four in Hamas. Three, two and one are on the way,” Netanyahu said in the 13-second video. “They are all dead men, we will reach them all.”
Al-Arouri was killed in an airstrike on Beirut in early January, for which Israel never officially took responsibility. He was regarded as close to Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and as Hamas’s prime orchestrator of West Bank terrorism.
According to Hebrew-language media reports, Issa had been hiding in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza since October 7. Overnight between Saturday and Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces carried out an airstrike on a building where he was believed to be. Reports said five Palestinians were killed in the strike, although it was unknown if Issa was among them.
On Monday evening, Channel 12 aired footage apparently showing Palestinians inspecting the aftermath of the Nuseirat strike.
Nicknamed “Shadow Man’ for his ability to stay off Israel’s radar, Issa is also believed to have been directing Hamas’s military operations since October 7.
The New York Times reported in January that the US Central Intelligence Agency had set up a task force in the wake of the October 7 assault to gather intelligence on the location of senior Hamas leaders and share the information with Israel.
The unconfirmed report, which cited US officials, said that the US was already transferring information on the location of senior leaders, though it was unclear how effective the intelligence had been as none of the major leaders in Gaza have yet been killed or captured.
The report noted that the US did not give Israel information leading to al-Arouri’s killing in Beirut.
It also noted that even if information has been given to Israel on the location of top leaders like Yahya Sinwar, or Hamas’s shadowy military chief Mohammed Deif — likely number one and number two on the list — Israel may not be able to immediately act on the information.
Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh has lived in Qatar since Sinwar replaced him as Gaza chief in 2017, and is likely also in Israel’s sights.
Meanwhile Monday, the IDF said troops of the 7th Armored Brigade located Hamas tunnels in the Hamad Town residential complex in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, adding that one of the tunnel shafts led to an underground route where food and weapons were found.
Another tunnel shaft contained weapons manufacturing equipment and concrete production machinery used by Hamas to build tunnels, the IDF said. The tunnels were destroyed in an airstrike.
The IDF said the brigade raided several more Hamas sites in the Hamad area, seizing sniper rifles, explosive devices, military equipment, and intelligence documents.
Alongside the Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504 and Shin Bet, dozens of terror operatives attempting to flee with evacuating civilians from the Hamad area were captured by troops, and hundreds more suspects were detained for questioning, the IDF added.
The war in Gaza erupted with Hamas’s October 7 massacre, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages, mostly civilians, amid wholesale acts of brutality and sexual abuse.
In response, Israel launched a wide-scale offensive in Gaza aimed at destroying Hamas’s military and governance capabilities and releasing the hostages.
Agencies contributed to this report.