The killing of Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the lately appointed head of Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, has dealt a symbolic blow to the Palestinian group in Gaza, however the affect on its army operations is much from sure.
Al-Haddad was killed on Friday in a complicated dual-strike on a residential condominium in Gaza Metropolis’s Remal neighbourhood and a car making an attempt to flee the scene. The supply of heavy munitions right into a densely populated space, full of displaced civilians, killed seven different Palestinians, together with ladies and kids, and wounded 50 folks.
But, regardless of Israeli claims that the killing will cripple the group’s operational capability, analysts argue that its decentralised nature is constructed to soak up such shocks. Because the area watches to see how the resistance faction will reply, al-Haddad’s dying raises important questions on the way forward for the delicate “ceasefire” and who stays to steer the Qassam Brigades.
Operational affect: Will the Qassam Brigades collapse?
The killings of Qassam Brigades commanders, together with Mohammed Deif, Marwan Issa, and Yahya Sinwar’s brother Mohammed, left al-Haddad as the important thing army determine managing the combat in opposition to Israel.
Saeed Ziad, a Palestinian political analyst, informed Al Jazeera that whereas the loss is a “huge symbolic and ethical blow” to Palestinians, the instant operational affect on Hamas’s armed wing can be restricted.
“The Qassam Brigades usually are not constructed on a hierarchical, sequential construction, however a parallel one,” Ziad defined. “Over the previous twenty years, Hamas has transitioned right into a decentralised guerrilla pressure. Models function as remoted, self-sufficient teams with their very own logistical provide traces and fight doctrines.”
“If a brigade or battalion loses its commander, the group already is aware of its mission and has the sources to execute it independently,” he stated. Reorganising the Qassam Brigades’ central command to deal with the loss will seemingly take mere days, not months.
Moreover, al-Haddad had efficiently utilised the October ceasefire with Israel to rebuild the group’s infrastructure. “Over the previous 200 days, he reconstructed the resistance’s capabilities – its tunnels, weaponry and fight formations – making it able to defending itself as soon as once more,” Ziad famous.
Who’s left within the Hamas army management?
Israeli officers have boasted that they’re near dismantling Hamas’s central command, claiming that solely two members of the army council earlier than the pre-October 2023 assaults on Israel – Mohammed Awad and Imad Aqel – are alive.
Nonetheless, analysts level out that Hamas’s army wing, which boasted roughly 50,000 fighters earlier than the conflict, possesses a deep bench of cadres and a strict protocol for management succession that allows it to rapidly recuperate when commanders are killed.
“The resistance usually appoints a primary, second, and third deputy for each lively commander, from the final commander all the way down to the platoon leaders,” Ziad stated. “Filling these voids occurs quickly.”
Hamas instantly confirmed Haddad’s dying, with spokesperson Hazem Qassem formally mourning him because the “Basic Commander” of the Qassam Brigades. He burdened that regardless of his dying being a “huge loss”, the group’s “lengthy journey of resistance continues”.
The ‘Ghost’ of the Qassam Brigades
Born within the early Nineteen Seventies, al-Haddad joined Hamas upon its inception in 1987. He rose by means of the ranks from an infantry soldier to commander of the group’s Gaza Metropolis Brigade, overseeing six battalions – every consisting of 1,000 fighters plus 4,000 help personnel.
He performed a foundational position in establishing al-Majd – Hamas’s inside safety equipment designed to trace down Israeli intelligence collaborators. But it surely was his potential to outlive a number of assassination makes an attempt – together with bombings of his dwelling in 2009, 2012, 2021, and three separate occasions through the present genocidal conflict on Gaza – that earned him the moniker “Ghost”.
Al-Haddad left an indelible strategic mark on the motion as a main architect of the October 7, 2023 assaults. He personally oversaw the breach of the japanese fence, directed elite items that stormed the Re’im army base and the Fajja outpost. In accordance with intelligence stories, it was al-Haddad who handed localised commanders a paper hours earlier than the assault detailing the operation and ordering the seize of Israeli troopers.
In January 2025, an Israeli air raid killed his son, Suhaib, however al-Haddad survived and continued to command operations and oversee the detention of Israeli captives till a deal was reached.
A fragile ‘ceasefire’ on the brink
Shortly after Friday’s strike, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz issued a uncommon joint assertion, boasting that the killing was carried out underneath their direct orders.
Mohannad Mustafa, an analyst of Israeli affairs, stated al-Haddad’s killing reveals that Israel is making an attempt to “normalise” blatant violations of the “ceasefire” settlement, whereas the Netanyahu-Katz assertion was an attraction to Washington to permit it to proceed the killing marketing campaign. At the very least 871 Palestinians have been killed because the “ceasefire” was introduced on October 10, 2025, most of them civilians.
“Netanyahu is pitching this to the US administration as a needed step to ‘disarm Hamas’ underneath the Trump plan,” Mustafa informed Al Jazeera. “However the actuality is that Israel by no means wished this ceasefire. It was imposed on them.”
By systematically killing civilians, police, and army figures with out providing instant justifications for “ceasefire” breaches, Israel goals to impress a response. “The final word objective is to pressure Hamas to retaliate, resulting in the collapse of the settlement and giving Israel the inexperienced mild to launch ‘Gideon 2’ – a army operation to occupy the whole lot of the Gaza Strip,” Mustafa added.
With Netanyahu missing a definitive strategic victory, equivalent to the full give up of Hamas, Ziad stated the Israeli management is now leaning closely on a “philosophy of assassinations” to venture a “image of victory” to its home base.
However historical past has proven that killings of main army figures, equivalent to al-Haddad, not often have a major long-term affect on armed Palestinian actions like Hamas.
“For the fighters and the society in Gaza, these killings create a blood covenant,” Ziad stated. “It hardens their resolve. Retreating after the lack of leaders like Deif, Sinwar, or Haddad is seen as a betrayal of that blood.”
