After the attacks of October 7, 2023 by Hamas, which triggered the war in Gaza and the subsequent escalation of violence in the Middle East, Israel has tried by all means to eliminate the main leaders of this militia and also of the party-militia Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah, which supports the former. The assassination of Yahia Sinwar, the top leader of Hamas, announced this Thursday, is the latest in a series of “targeted operations” – as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) call them – and bombings (which have also killed thousands of civilians) that have served to liquidate at least three senior Palestinian officials and nine Lebanese in the last year.
Among the most famous names are Ismail Haniya, former top political leader of the Palestinians, and Hasan Nasrallah, the Shiite cleric who led Hezbollah for 32 years. Despite the casualties suffered, both militias repeat that these do not pose a threat to their existence and the continuity of their operations. The only death that has not been confirmed by all parties is that of Mohamed Deif, considered the head of the armed wing and number two of Hamas, only behind Sinwar: Israel claims that it has killed him, but Hamas denies it.
Below is a list of the main leaders assassinated by Israel since the beginning of a conflict that has so far caused at least 1,200 deaths on the Israeli side, more than 42,000 in Gaza and more than 2,300 in Lebanon.
Hamas leaders
Ismail Haniya. The top political leader of Hamas was assassinated on July 13 in Tehran, where he had attended the inauguration of the new Iranian president, Masud Pezeshkian. Israel did not acknowledge responsibility for the attack, but almost no one hesitated to point the finger at its secret services abroad, the Mossad. Unlike other leaders of the fundamentalist militia, Haniya did not live in hiding, but mainly in Qatar, where he participated in events. He was in charge of the group’s foreign relations and participated in the negotiations for a ceasefire that has not been reached. He had survived other attacks and had spent time in Israeli prisons.
Haniya was considered a pragmatist willing to accept de facto the existence of Israel, if a peace agreement created a Palestinian State on the borders prior to the Six-Day War of 1967, although maintaining the rejection of its formal recognition. Over time he hardened his approaches and applauded the attacks of October 7. The death of Haniya, at the age of 62 in a military residence in Tehran, was a hard blow for Hamas, but it was also an affront to the Iranian regime, which responded on October 1 by launching nearly 200 missiles against Israel. .
Saleh al Aruri. He was a co-founder of the Ezedin al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, and until his death he was considered the lead negotiator of the Palestinian militia, which he joined in 1980. During his militancy, he led negotiations with other Palestinian factions, with Israeli authorities and with various international allies, and was one of the main people responsible for finances. An explosion in the Beirutian neighborhood of Dahiye ended his life on January 2. Hamas accused Israel of this attack from the first moment, but Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has so far not acknowledged its responsibility.
The attack that killed Al Aruri, 57, was the first that Israel launched against the Lebanese capital since 2006. According to Reuters, a missile launched from a drone caused his death and that of two other leaders of the armed wing of the cluster. Al Aruri was also seen as a loose verse in Hamas, as he ordered armed actions on his own, without consulting the rest of the leadership.
Mohamed Deif. He was—or is—the commander in chief of the Ezedín al Qasam Brigades and number two in the Palestinian militia in the Strip, only behind its leader, Yahia Sinwar. Deif’s death is unclear: it was confirmed by the Israeli army in August, after its warplanes bombed the Khan Younis area of Gaza, following an intelligence assessment that took the lives of another 90 people. But Hamas denies this. Since 2001, Deif has survived a dozen assassination attempts by Israel and on more than one occasion he has been presumed dead and then recanted. According to Israel, he is one of the masterminds of the October 7 Hamas attacks on southern Israel that sparked the Gaza war and subsequent escalation of violence in the Middle East.
Marwan Issa.On March 18, the IDF announced the death of Marwan Issa, whom it considered another of the masterminds of October 7, although the Palestinian militia has not officially commented. He was one of the most prominent Hamas leaders, serving as deputy commander of the militia’s military wing. Both Issa, 58, and another senior Hamas official were hit by an aerial bombardment in central Gaza even though they were in an underground compound. Issa was Mohamed Deif’s deputy since 2012 and was part of the militia’s military council as well as its political office in Gaza, overseen by Yahia Sinwar, according to the newspaper. The New York Times. He was considered a great strategist who played an important role as a liaison between Hamas’ military and political leaders.
Hezbollah leaders
Hasan Nasrallah. Hezbollah confirmed the death of Hasan Nasrallah, 64, on September 28. Top leader of Hezbollah for 32 years and face of the Lebanese party-militia before the world, the cleric was hit in a bombing by the Israel Defense Forces in a residential area of the Beirut neighborhood of Dahiye. “Nasrallah was responsible for the murder of numerous Israeli civilians and soldiers and for the planning and execution of thousands of terrorist activities. He was responsible for directing and executing terrorist attacks around the world in which civilians of various nationalities were murdered. “He was the main decision-maker and strategic leader of the organization,” the Israeli army said in a statement. Hugely popular among the Shiite community, Nasrallah was also the leader who managed to elevate Hezbollah to the political arena.
Ibrahim Qubaisi.An Israeli airstrike on a Dahiye apartment building on September 24 killed this Hezbollah commander. A member since 1980, Qubaisi commanded several units of the militia’s rocket and missile division, including the precision-guided missile division. Previously, he was a senior official in the operations division, according to the IDF. “Qubaisi was a central source of knowledge in the field of missiles and was close to Hezbollah’s military leadership,” the IDF stated. In the attack that killed this commander, other high-ranking officers were also hit.
Ibrahim Aqil. On September 21, Israel announced the death of the head of the elite Radwan forces, Ibrahim Aqil. He was killed in a two-missile attack in Dahiye that killed at least 13 others and injured 66. Both the Israeli military and Hezbollah confirmed his death.
Ahmed Wabi.He was another prominent commander of the elite Radwan force and was killed in the same missile attack as Ibrahim Aquil. Wabi led operations on the Lebanese front during the first months of the war in Gaza.
Fuad Shukr.A historic member of the Lebanese militia and responsible for military activities, Shukr was killed in a “selective attack” against a Hezbollah headquarters in Dahiye on July 30. Israel considered him the right-hand man of Hasan Nasrallah, head of the Shiite group. The Israeli operation that ended his life was in response to the death of 12 minors a few days earlier in another missile attack in the Syrian Golan Heights, occupied by Israel, which the IDF attributed to Hezbollah, although the militia denied it. . Likewise, the United States Department of State accused him of directing an attack against a barracks in which 241 Americans died in Lebanon in 1983.
Muhammad Nasser.An Israeli attack in Tire (Lebanon) killed a prominent and veteran Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon on July 3, according to two Lebanese security sources and a statement from the militia, which identified him as Muhamad Nasser, without giving more details. Security sources described him as one of Hezbollah’s highest-ranking figures and said he was responsible for a section of the militia’s operations on the border with Israel.
Abdullah Taleb. Hezbollah’s field commander was killed on June 12 in an attack claimed by Israel, which claimed it had hit a command and control center in southern Lebanon. Abdullah Taleb was Hezbollah’s commander for the central southern border region and had the same rank as Muhammad Nasser. His murder was, at that time, the highest-ranking casualty that Hezbollah suffered in the then eight months of fighting. In the wake of this death, the Shiite militia promised to increase the intensity, strength and quantity of its attacks in retaliation. A day later, they fulfilled that threat with their largest rocket offensive (215) against the north of the Jewish State and the one that entered the furthest into Israeli territory (60 kilometers) since the start of hostilities.
Wissam al Tawil.An Israeli strike on January 8 killed Wissam al Tawil, deputy head of a unit of Hezbollah’s elite Redwan force. Al Tawil was, then, the highest-ranking leader of that movement assassinated by Israel since the Shiite militia party opened the Lebanese front against Israel in October in support of its ally Hamas. The militant died when his car was hit by an Israeli projectile in Khirbet Selm, about 10 kilometers north of Lebanon’s border with Israel.
Suhail Hussein Husseini. Hezbollah’s head of logistics and budgets was killed in a bombing raid on Dahiye on October 8, according to Israel. Hezbollah has neither confirmed nor denied the information.