AN ISRAELI air attack in Gaza killed the leader of Hamas’ military wing, one of the last surviving architects of the attacks that triggered the war in late 2023, the Israeli military said on Saturday. 

Izz al-Din al-Haddad was killed on Friday, Israel’s army said, describing him as one of the senior Hamas military commanders who directed the planning and execution of the Hamas-led attacks on October 7 2023, during which around 1,200 people in southern Israel killed and saw more than 250 taken hostage.

A Hamas spokesperson, Hazem Qassem, confirmed the killing on social media.

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas remains fragile, and the top diplomat overseeing it says it has stalled because of the deadlock over disarming Hamas. Both sides have traded accusations of violations. 

Gaza has seen near-daily Israeli attacks that have killed more than 850 people in the Palestinian territory since the ceasefire went into effect in October last year, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The ministry says Israel’s war on the Palestinians in has have devastated the Palestinian enclave and killed more than 72,700 people overall. 

Israel said that Mr Haddad had assumed the role of Hamas commander after his predecessor, Mohammed Sinwar, was killed. 

Six other people, including Mr Haddad’s wife and daughter, were also killed. His two sons were killed earlier in the war.

His body was wrapped in Hamas and Palestinian flags as it was carried by mourners at Saturday’s funeral in Gaza City.

Mr Haddad joined Hamas when it was established in the 1980s, and was a member of the Qassam Brigades’ Majd section tasked to go after collaborators with Israel.

He was also a member of Hamas’s military council, the highest group of commanders that played a key role in the October 7 attacks.

Israel’s army chief of staff called his killing a significant operation, and said that Israel would continue pursuing its enemies to hold them accountable.

Meanwhile violence continued to flare in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli troops shot and killed Palestinian Nour al-Din Kamal Hassan Fayyad, 34, in the Jenin refugee camp on Saturday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Israel’s military claimed its troops first fired warning shots at a person trying to infiltrate the camp and shot him when he didn’t comply. 

On Friday, settlers set fire to a mosque and vehicles in the village of Jibiya, north-west of Ramallah, Palestinian religious authorities said. 

The Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs described the attack as “a cowardly terrorist act.”