As the US presses for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the militant group’s decision will largely hinge on its new de facto leader in Gaza.
The commander, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, took over the military wing in Gaza after Israeli forces killed Muhammad Sinwar, according to a senior West Asian intelligence official and three Israeli defence officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to divulge sensitive details.
On Thursday, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, the Israeli military’s spokesman, said that al-Haddad was Hamas’s new leader.
Al-Haddad, who is in his mid-50s, helped plan the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, the officials said.
He is believed to be in firm opposition to Israeli efforts to dislodge Hamas from power, suggesting that he could block any push to release all remaining hostages before a total end to the war in Gaza and a withdrawal of Israeli troops.
“He has the same red lines as the people before him,” said Michael Milshtein, a former Israeli military intelligence officer specialising in Palestinian affairs.
Al-Haddad is thought to be based in Gaza City, his hometown. He is believed to have said in recent weeks that he will either achieve an “honourable deal” to end the war with Israel or else the war will become “a war of liberation or a war of martyrdom”, the West Asian intelligence official said.
Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas have repeatedly failed to produce a ceasefire, prolonging the suffering of Palestinian civilians and the captivity of hostages.
But over the past week, the Trump administration has been pushing for a cessation in hostilities, helping to shape a new proposal that would begin with a 60-day pause in fighting, during which talks about an end to the war would happen.
As of Thursday, Hamas leaders were deliberating whether to agree to the proposal.
Izzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas official, did not respond to a request for comment.
The primary obstacle to getting a deal between Hamas and Israel has been the permanence of any ceasefire. Hamas has insisted on a lasting end to the war in Gaza. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said that Hamas’s military and governing capabilities must first be dismantled.
Since the October 7 attack, al-Haddad has been the only senior Hamas commander to give an on-the-record interview, appearing in an Al Jazeera documentary that aired in late January.
“The leadership of the occupation, supported by America and the West, will have to submit to our just demands,” he said with his face concealed by a dark shadow.
The demands, he said, include withdrawing from Gaza, stopping the war, releasing Palestinian prisoners, allowing the reconstruction of Gaza and lifting restrictions on the entry and the exit of goods.
In the interview, he also spoke about Hamas’s deception of Israel before the October 2023 attack, and he said that the militant group had informed allies about its broad plans for it.
But he added that the group had not shared the exact timing, and he did not clarify what details Hamas had provided to its allies.
Al-Haddad, known to his compatriots as Abu Suheib, is one of the few remaining living commanders who served on its high-level military council on October 7.
At the time, he was serving as the leader of Hamas’s Gaza City division. Muhammad Deif, the leader of the military wing, and his deputy Marwan Issa were killed in 2024.
Raed Saad, a powerful member of the council and a close ally of al-Haddad, is still believed to be alive, according to the West Asian intelligence official and one of the Israeli defence officials.
New York Times News Service