Hamas and Hezbollah — both extremist groups backed by Iran — have lost several of their top leaders
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After October 7, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “instructed the Mossad to act against the heads of Hamas wherever they are.” In the months since, as mediators try to push Israel and Hamas toward ceasefire in Gaza, many of Israel’s most wanted terrorists have been killed — both from Hamas and from its ally, Hezbollah.
There has been added urgency to seal a deal from mediators United States, Egypt and Qatar after the recent targeted killings of leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah in Iran and Lebanon and vows of retaliation that have sparked fears of a wider regional war.
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Yahya Sinwar, the individual believed to be ultimately responsible for the October 7 attack, was chosen to replace Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated at the end of July in Tehran. Iran swiftly blamed Israel, but Israel has not publicly acknowledged any role in the killing. Days earlier, Israel took responsibility for an airstrike in southern Beirut that killed Fuad Shukr, a senior commander of Hezbollah.
Iran and Hezbollah vowed retaliation, but have so far not taken action, reportedly to allow for Gaza ceasefire talks to continue. Tensions remain high in the absence of a deal with Hamas.
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The recent deaths repeat a familiar pattern. Over the years, Hamas and Hezbollah — both extremist groups backed by Iran — have lost several of their top leaders, most of whom were assassinated by Israeli forces. Hamas’s founder, Ahmad Yasin, was killed in Gaza by Israel in 2004. Imad Mughniyeh, a top Hezbollah commander believed by the U.S. and Israel to be responsible for kidnappings, murders and bombings, including the 1983 attack on the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, was assassinated by Mossad and CIA agents in Syria in 2008.
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Despite the decades-long campaign to eliminate Hamas leaders, the group has consistently managed to replace them, showing no significant disruption in its ranks. Similarly, Hezbollah has not only survived but has also strengthened its military and political presence in Lebanon, even after losing several top commanders and leaders to Israeli assassinations.
But since October 7, Israel has ramped up its targeted attacks.
Below are some of the most significant assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, either claimed by Israel or widely attributed to it, since the start of the Gaza war.
Murad Abu Murad
In the early days of Israel’s campaign to crush Hamas in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that they had killed Murad Abu Murad, the head of the extremist group’s aerial forces responsible for the attack, which used hang gliders to enter southern Israel.
According to Israeli military officials, Murad, who was the commander of air operations for Hamas’s military wing known as the al-Qassam Brigades, “took a big part in directing terrorists during the massacre” on Oct. 7.
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The IDF said that Murad was killed in an airstrike that targeted the headquarters of Hamas’s aerial activities. The strike also eliminated members of the “Nukhba,” an elite special forces unit of the al-Qassam Brigades.
Murad was 45 years old when he was killed on Oct. 13.
Ali Qadhi
On Oct. 13, the Israeli military announced that Ali Qadhi was killed in a drone strike. Born in the West Bank in 1988, Ali Mohammad Ali al-Qadhi was the head of Hamas’s Nukhba commando unit, which was involved in the October 7 attack on southern Israel.
“Under the intelligence direction of the Shin Bet and the Military Intelligence Directorate, an IDF aircraft assassinated Ali Qadhi,” the IDF statement said.
Qadhi was first arrested by Israeli forces in 2005 and sentenced to life in prison for the kidnapping and murder of his former employer, Israeli businessman Sasson Nuriel.
However, he was released in 2011 as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange and was subsequently deported to the Gaza Strip, where he continued terrorist activities.
Osama Mazini
On Oct. 17, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that they had killed Osama Mazini, a one-time chief negotiator for Hamas, who was responsible for handling the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner swap, in an airstrike.
In a statement, the IDF said that Mazini “directed terrorist activities against Israel.”
Mazini also served as Hamas’s minister of education in Gaza and was a member of the group’s political bureau in the Gaza Strip. He headed Hamas’s Shura Council, the consultative body that selects the group’s political bureau.
He was 57 years old.
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Ayman Nofal
In October, Hamas confirmed that Ayman Nofal, a member of its general military council and a commander of the al-Qassam Brigades, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the central part of the Gaza Strip.
Born in 1965 in the Bureij Refugee Camp in Gaza, Nofal was involved in attacks against Israelis during the Palestinian uprisings known as the intifadas, according to the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).
He was jailed by Israel in the early 1990s and later by the Palestinian Authority.
In 2008, Nofal was arrested by the Egyptian government after crossing the border illegally during a time when Gaza was under siege. He was released in 2011 following the collapse of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s regime.
According to the IDF, Nofal also served as the head of military intelligence for the al-Qassam Brigades and was involved in planning the 2006 kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Ibrahim Biari
On Oct. 31, Ibrahim Biari was killed in an attack by Israeli fighter jets on the Jabaliya Refugee Camp in Gaza.
According to the IDF, he was the commander of the Central Jabaliya Battalion and was responsible for overseeing Hamas fighters in northern Gaza since the IDF’s ground war began.
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He was also behind the 2004 terrorist attack at the Ashdod Port, which killed 13 Israelis.
“He was very important, I would say even pivotal in the planning and execution of the October 7 attack against Israel from the northeastern parts of the Gaza Strip,” said IDF spokesperson Lt. Colonel Jonathan Conricus.
Saleh al-Arouri
Saleh al-Arouri, 57, was the deputy leader of Hamas’s political bureau and a co-founder of the al-Qassam Brigades military wing.
He was killed in a drone strike on Jan. 2 at his office in southern Beirut, a Hezbollah-dominated neighbourhood. The attack was widely attributed to Israel, though Israel typically does not comment on cross-border operations.
According to the BBC, Arouri joined Hamas in 1987 and played a key role in establishing the group’s military presence in the West Bank, from where he hailed.
He was believed to have close ties to Iran and the Tehran-backed militia group Hezbollah. Arouri spent 15 years in an Israeli prison from 1995 to 2010, after which he was exiled to Syria, Turkey, and eventually Lebanon.
The United States designated him as a terrorist and issued a US$5 million bounty for “information leading to the identification or location” of him or other leaders.
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Marwan Issa
Marwan Issa was the deputy commander of the al-Qassam Brigades and was known as the right hand of its notorious leader, Mohammad Deif.
Born in 1965 in Gaza’s Bureij refugee camp, Issa’s family was originally from the area near Ashkelon in present-day Israel, according to the European Council on Foreign Relations.
He was imprisoned by Israel for five years following the First Intifada in 1987. In 1997, the Palestinian Authority arrested him, and he remained in custody until the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000.
Due to his multiple escapes from Israeli assassination attempts, he was nicknamed the “Shadow Man” and remained out of the public eye for years before becoming the second-in-command of Hamas fighters in Gaza.
On March 10, Issa was killed in an airstrike on a tunnel at the Al-Nuseirat camp in Gaza.
Mohammed Deif
One of the most wanted Hamas leaders, Mohammed Deif, was killed in an airstrike in Gaza on July 13, according to the Israeli military.
Israel believes Deif was the mastermind behind the devastating October 7 massacre. “Following an intelligence assessment, it can be confirmed that Mohammed Deif was eliminated,” the statement reads.
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Hamas has yet to confirm his death.
Deif was considered the second most powerful figure in Gaza after Yahya Sinwar, the current head of Hamas’s political bureau.
Born in 1965 in Khan Younis when Gaza was under Egyptian rule, Deif was appointed as the head of the al-Qassam Brigades in 2002. He survived several assassination attempts by Israel, losing one of his eyes as a result.
Under his command, Hamas developed a complex network of underground tunnels used by fighters to launch attacks on Israel. In 2014, Israeli forces struck his house in Gaza, but he was not at home at the time; instead, his wife and infant son were killed in the attack.
Deif played a key role in boosting Hamas’s rocket capabilities since taking command of the al-Qassam Brigades.
Israel also blames him for masterminding suicide bombings in the 1990s until 2006 that targeted Israeli civilians.
His real name was Mohammad al-Masri, but he was widely known as “Deif,” meaning “the guest,” since he was constantly changing hideouts.
Ismail Haniyeh
Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated on July 31 at an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps guesthouse in Tehran while attending the swearing-in ceremony of newly elected President Masoud Pezeshkian.
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Iran quickly blamed Israel for the assassination and vowed retaliation, though Israel did not comment on the incident.
Born in 1962 in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza, Haniyeh studied Arabic literature at the Islamic University in Gaza. He joined Hamas in 1987 when the group was launched, and was imprisoned multiple times by Israeli authorities.
Haniyeh rose through the ranks of Hamas, becoming a close aide and assistant to the group’s founder, Ahmad Yassin.
In 2006, Haniyeh became the prime minister after Hamas won a majority of seats in the Palestinian parliamentary elections. However, Fatah, the rival group, refused to work with him, leading to deadly fighting. He was dismissed by President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority after Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in 2007, when Hamas took control of the Strip.
Haniyeh governed Gaza until 2017. Two years later, he left Gaza to lead Hamas’s diplomatic mission abroad as the head of the political bureau. He was succeeded by hardliner Yahya Sinwar as the head of Hamas in Gaza.
Taleb Abdullah
Taleb Abdullah, one of Hezbollah’s most senior commanders, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on June 11. The attack occurred in the town of Jouaiyya.
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Abdullah was reportedly commanding a regional division of Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon, making him the most senior military commander targeted by Israel up until that point in June.
Al Mayadeen, a Beirut-based pro-Hezbollah TV network, reported that he was born in 1969 in Adchit, a town in southern Lebanon. He joined the militant group in 1984 and was among the fighters who participated in the Bosnian civil war between 1992 and 1994, defending Muslims.
Fuad Shukr
The killing of Fuad Shukr marks the most significant Hezbollah target that Israel has eliminated since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
Born in Nabatieh, Baalbek, in eastern Lebanon, Shukr was one of the founding members of Hezbollah, the militia group established in 1982 following Israel’s invasion of Lebanon.
Known by his nom de guerre, Hajj Mohsen, Shukr was a close aide and right-hand man to Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah. The U.S. had placed a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture due to his involvement in the 1983 Marine Corps barracks bombing in Beirut, which killed over 300 people, including American and French soldiers.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that Shukr was behind the rocket attacks on the Golan Heights, which resulted in the deaths of 12 children.
Shukr was killed in an Israeli airstrike on July 30.
National Post, with additional reporting from The Associated Press
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