Israel on Friday eliminated one of the last remaining senior Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip when it took out Hakham Muhammad Issa Al-Issa, head of the group’s “military academy.”
Also known as “Abu Omar al-Suri,” he was a chief architect of the savage October 7, 2023 invasion of southern Israel.
Al-Issa, a Palestinian born in Syria, was killed along with his wife and grandson in a precise strike in, according to sources in the Gaza Strip.
Hakham al-Issa was a veteran of global jihad. He fought against US forces in Afghanistan, against Russia in Chechnya, and against Israel from Lebanon during the early 2000s. In 2005, he relocated to Gaza and quickly rose through the ranks of Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
Most notably, al-Issa was the founder of Hamas’s training apparatus responsible for preparing thousands of fighters and commanders. According to journalist Mahmoud Dalaila, who eulogized him on X (formerly Twitter), al-Issa was known for introducing advanced military and technical specializations into Hamas’s operational structure, dramatically increasing the group’s tactical sophistication.
Al-Issa is also believed to have played a central role in both the planning and execution of the October 7 massacre, during which Hamas terrorists brutally murdered 1,200 people and abducted over 250 in southern Israel.
Dalaila described al-Issa as a shadowy figure whose real name was unknown to many, saying, “He came to Gaza with one mission: to transfer his resistance expertise. And he succeeded.” Al-Issa’s legacy within Hamas, Dalaila wrote, was one of deep structural and technical transformation—“one of the few who had a true, lasting impact on the resistance [sic].”
The elimination of al-Issa marks another high-level blow to Hamas’s command infrastructure, following a series of targeted eliminations by the IDF in coordination with Israel’s intelligence services. These include the recent neutralization of a senior commander in the Kataeb al-Mujahedeen terrorist group and Hamas’s anti-tank division chief.
Al-Issa’s death represents not only a tactical victory but a symbolic one—removing a key figure who helped shape Hamas’s military power for nearly two decades.
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It is interesting to watch how the book of Zechariah is playing out. These terrorist leaders so proud of doing what they desire against Israel is costing them people and their own families along with the end of themselves. The terrorists of Gaza will, in the end, have destroyed themselves and their families future, all for the love of hatred.
Whether it is those of the left or those who have been taught all their lives to hate Jews, the Lord says He will rid Israel of them.