Israel/Gaza: Senior Hamas Military Leader Marwan Issa Reported Dead by US
White House official, Jake Sullivan, has revealed the death of Hamas leader Marwan Issa in an Israeli air strike.
Although the Palestinian group, which controls Gaza, has not officially commented on reports of his death, Mr Issa would be Hamas's most senior leader to die as a deputy military commander since the war began on 7 October.
Israeli media sources have reported that Mr Issa was killed in a strike on a tunnel complex under the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza last week.
The deputy commander of Hamas's military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, was a top target for Israel and was designated as a terrorist by the European Union. He was directly linked to the 7 October attack that resulted in numerous casualties.
He had previously served time in Israeli jails during the first Palestinian intifada and was detained by the Palestinian Authority before the second intifada. The Israeli military has targeted several Hamas leaders, including Saleh al-Arouri, who was killed in an explosion in Beirut, with Israel widely suspected to be responsible for the attack.
Mr Sullivan, the White House's national security adviser, said other Hamas leaders were believed to be in hiding, "likely deep in the Hamas tunnel network" in Gaza.
He pledged that the US would aid Israel in its continued hunt for top Hamas leaders, adding: "Justice will come for them, too."
But he also emphasised that US President Joe Biden had expressed his growing alarm over the rising number of civilian deaths in Gaza in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - their first conversation in a month.
The US president reiterated his commitment to Israel and its "right to go after Hamas", according to Mr Sullivan, but he also said that it would be a "mistake" for Israel's military to invade Rafah - a city in southern Gaza where an estimated million refugees have fled to during the war.
According to the Hamas-led health ministry in Gaza, more than 31,000 Palestinian civilians have died since the war started on 7 October while the death toll has drawn international condemnation and alienated many of Israel's allies.
President Biden pushed Mr Netanyahu for a "clear, strategic end game" in Gaza during the call, Mr Sullivan said.
Relationship under Tension
Tensions have escalated between President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
The president told the prime minister again today that "we share the goal of defeating Hamas, but we just believe you need a coherent and sustainable strategy to make that happen."
Mr Biden was able to get the Israeli leader to agree to sending a "senior interagency team composed of military, intelligence and humanitarian officials" to Washington in the coming days to discuss US concerns over an invasion of Rafah.
The expectation is that Israel will delay its assault until that meeting is held, Mr Sullivan said.
Mr Netanyahu confirmed the call on X, stating that the two had "discussed the latest developments in the war" as well as Israel's goals in the conflict.
