‘Ghost of Gaza’: Al-Qassam Confirms Killing of Chief of Staff Ezzeddin al-Haddad

In a statement, Al-Qassam described the killing as a “cowardly assassination” and said the operation constituted a violation of the ceasefire agreement.

The movement added that targeting senior resistance leaders would not alter the course of confrontation.

“The assassination of leaders will only reinforce the Resistance’s determination to continue its path of struggle,” the statement said.

Palestinian resistance sources had earlier confirmed al-Haddad’s death following the strike.

Deadly Strike in Al-Rimal

Al-Haddad was killed after zionist forces struck a residential building in the Al-Rimal neighborhood west of Gaza City on Friday.

The attack caused extensive destruction in a densely populated civilian area.

Local reports said at least eight Palestinians were killed and more than 40 wounded in the strike, while rescue crews struggled to recover victims from beneath the rubble.

The bombardment came amid continued zionist attacks across Gaza despite ongoing ceasefire discussions.

Health authorities said zionist attacks over the previous 24 hours killed 13 Palestinians and wounded 57 others.

According to figures released by Gaza’s Health Ministry, the overall death toll in Gaza since October 2023 has reached 72,757, with 172,645 wounded.

The ‘Ghost of Gaza’

Born in Gaza in 1970, al-Haddad joined Hamas during the movement’s early years in the 1980s and later became one of the most prominent military leaders within Al-Qassam.

He became widely known as the ‘Ghost of Gaza’ because of his secrecy and ability to avoid repeated zionist attempts to locate him.

Zionist occupation forces reportedly attempted to assassinate him six times and offered a reward of $750,000 for information leading to his whereabouts.

Al-Haddad succeeded Mohammad al-Sinwar following his assassination in 2025 and later assumed broader leadership responsibilities within the movement.

Zionist media had increasingly described him as one of the regime’s highest-priority targets following the assassinations of senior Hamas leaders, including Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Marwan Issa.

Family Recalls Years of Sacrifice

As funeral processions moved through Gaza City on Saturday, family members described a life shaped by imprisonment, resistance activity, and repeated personal loss.

Speaking to Al-Jazeera Mubasher, his sister Mahitab al-Haddad said the family received news of his death “with patience and acceptance.”

She said al-Haddad had spent years moving between Israeli prisons and detention by the Palestinian Authority before continuing his role within Al-Qassam.

Mahitab said he had suffered repeated losses during the war, including sons and relatives, yet remained steadfast.

“He remained patient and encouraged others to remain patient,” she said.

Family members also described him as a figure known among Gaza residents for assisting people and remaining committed to family responsibilities despite years of war and pursuit.

Aya al-Haddad, his brother’s wife, described his martyrdom as “an honor for the family,” saying he remained close to relatives and continued helping those around him despite the war.

Funeral Crowds Fill Gaza Streets

Thousands of Palestinians took part in funeral processions across Gaza on Saturday. Crowds chanted slogans supporting Palestinian resistance while carrying al-Haddad’s body through the streets.

Al-Haddad’s killing comes as zionist continues its campaign in Gaza and amid ongoing efforts to secure a broader ceasefire agreement.

Al-Qassam reiterated that assassinations and continued military escalation would not alter its position.

“The path of resistance will continue,” the movement said.

Hamas Releases Statement

“Among the believers are men who have been true to their covenant with Allah. Some of them have fulfilled their vow by sacrificing their lives, and others still await, and they have not altered their determination by any means.”

With all feelings of pride and honor, and with hearts filled with pain mixed with faith, submission, patience, and steadfastness, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) mourns to our Palestinian people, our Arab and Islamic nation, and the free people of the world, the great commander and fighter martyr:

Who ascended to his Lord as a martyr on the evening of Friday, 15/05/2026, as a result of a treacherous and cowardly “israeli” assassination crime. It targeted him along with members of his family and a number of safe civilians in the Gaza Strip, which led to his martyrdom along with his wife, Umm Suhaib, his daughter Nour, and a number of innocent citizens, after a path of struggle filled with giving, sacrifice, preparation, and ribat. During this path, he remained steadfast in the fields of confrontation, advancing and never retreating, defending his people, his land, and his sanctities until the last moments.

The martyr commander Abu Suhaib represented an exceptional model of the steadfast, fighting commander who spent his life in the fields of resistance, preparation, and confronting the occupation. He was one of the pillars of the resistance project in the Gaza Strip, a beacon for the fighters, and an impenetrable dam in the face of attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause and break the will of our people. His wise leadership, field directives, and management of the battle of confrontation with the occupation, especially during the Al-Aqsa Flood battle, were a source of inspiration for the heroes of Al-Qassam, and a severe force against the enemy and its army.

The martyr commander Abu Suhaib ascended, after having offered during the Al-Aqsa Flood battle his own beloved children, the fighters Suhaib and Mumin, and his son-in-law, the fighter Mahmoud Abu Hasira, as martyrs on the path of Al-Quds and liberation, to join them as a steadfast, patient, and reckoning martyr, in a scene that embodies the greatness of the sacrifices offered by the resistance leaders and their families for the sake of Palestine and its sanctities.

The crime of assassinating the martyr commander Izz al-Din al-Haddad, and what the occupation continues to commit of crimes against our people in the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire agreement came into effect, confirms once again the criminal and fascist nature of this terrorist entity, its disregard for all international laws and charters, and its failed attempts to impose political and field realities it failed to achieve by force, through the policy of killing, terrorism, pressure on the resistance leadership, influencing its political positions, and breaking the will, steadfastness, and tenacity of our people on their land.

The movement confirms that this crime, with all its dimensions and timing, places the international community, and the intermediary and guarantor countries of the agreement in particular, before their political, legal, humanitarian, and moral responsibilities to act immediately and seriously to compel the occupation government to fully adhere to the terms of the agreement and stop its ongoing crimes and aggression against innocent civilians. Furthermore, the continued international silence and failure to exert real pressure on the war criminal Netanyahu, the Hitler of the era who is wanted for international justice, have encouraged the occupation to continue its bloody approach and its ongoing aggression against our people.

The movement also calls on our Palestinian people for more cohesion, unity, and steadfastness, and to thwart all the occupation’s plans aimed at undermining the unity of our people and their resistance. It confirms that our people, who have offered these blessed convoys of martyr leaders, are capable, by the permission of Allah, of continuing the path of liberation until the occupation is expelled and our full national rights are wrested.

The martyr commander Abu Suhaib concluded his blessed journey with martyrdom, to remain a symbol of giving, steadfastness, and loyalty to Palestine, Al-Quds, Al-Aqsa, and the prisoners, and for his biography to remain a school for generations in sacrifice and adherence to rights and constants.

May Allah the Almighty have mercy on the great commander and fighter martyr Izz al-Din al-Haddad, Abu Suhaib, forgive him, grant him the highest Paradise with the prophets, the truthful, the martyrs, and the righteous, and excellent are those as companions.

And it is a jihad of victory or martyrdom.

Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas)

Friday, 15/05/2026
Corresponding to: 28 Dhu al-Qi’dah 1447 AH

Resistance Factions Commented on the Assassination

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine described Izz al-Din al-Haddad as the “General Commander” of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, praising him as a central figure in coordinating joint resistance efforts and rebuilding resistance leadership structures during the war. They highlighted his role in directing battlefield operations during the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation and noted that the zionist entity had failed for years to target the “Ghost of al-Qassam.”

Fatah al-Intifada referred to al-Haddad as the commander of the military general staff of the al-Qassam Brigades and emphasized his courage in confronting the zionist military operations and the war in Gaza. They emphasized that the blood of fallen leaders would inspire future generations.

The Palestinian Mujahideen Movement and the Mujahideen Brigades emphasized al-Haddad’s long history of armed struggle, framing his death within a religious narrative of sacrifice and martyrdom. They stressed that assassinations after more than a year of war would not defeat the resistance, describing fallen leaders as guiding symbols for the continued struggle.

The National Resistance Brigades (Omar al-Qasim Forces) stated that al-Haddad was martyred alongside his wife, daughter, and other civilians in central Gaza. The statement explicitly described the assassination as a violation of the ceasefire agreement and emphasized national goals, including freedom, the right of return, and independence.

The joint statement by the Palestinian resistance factions emphasized unity among the groups and described al-Haddad’s martyrdom as proof that assassinations cannot defeat the resistance. The factions stressed that every fallen commander strengthens the movement, reaffirmed their commitment to armed struggle, and vowed to continue fighting for the liberation of Palestine, including Al-Quds and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad exalted the martyr Izz al-Din al-Haddad, and condemned the entity’s actions as a violation of the ceasefire and said the assassinations of resistance leaders would only strengthen Palestinian resolve and resistance.

Statement by the Palestinian Resistance Factions on the 78th Anniversary of the Nakba

Palestinian Resistance Denounce Zionist Death Penalty Law For Oct 7th Political Prisoners

All our heroic prisoners are fighters for freedom, a source of pride and honor for our people, its vanguard and elite, and the title of its dignity and steadfastness. The enemy’s farcical courts will not succeed in stripping them of their status as fighters.

We warn the “israeli” enemy of the consequences of harming our prisoners, and we affirm that legitimizing execution and opening the door to abusing them will lead to a major escalation and explosion that the “israeli” entity will not be able to contain the repercussions of.

The ratification of this bill by a majority of votes from formal entities, such as the “israeli” coalition and opposition, confirms to the world that this society, with all its parties and civil, security, and military institutions, is a society infected with fascism and racism, and completely detached from any human or legal values.

We reaffirm that all occupation courts are void and illegal, just like the existence of the occupation itself on our land, and that our people’s right to resist this enemy in all forms is a sacred and legitimate right.

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Central Media Department
12/05/2026

The “israeli” Knesset’s approval of this criminal law is a new episode in the ongoing series of genocide, a new war crime, and a blatant disregard and contempt for all international norms, laws, and charters.

Our heroic prisoners, men and women, in the “israeli” enemy’s prisons will remain a symbol and title of dignity, honor, and pride for our people, our nation, and all the free people of the world, and the spearhead of the resistance and our people in all courts. All the attempts of the enemy, its sadistic leaders, and its invalid, illegitimate courts will fail to strip them of their status as freedom fighters.

This criminal decision confirms that the “israeli” entity, with all its components, parties, and institutions, is a criminal, fascist, sadistic society thirsty for Palestinian blood.

We warn the “israeli” enemy that harming our prisoners will ignite a massive revolution of anger, and we call on all the free people of the world to take immediate and urgent action and escalate activities in support of our male and female prisoners and in rejection of the laws of “israeli” criminality and fascism.

Popular Resistance Committees in Palestine.

Tuesday: 12/05/2026, corresponding to: 25 Dhu al-Qi’dah 1447 AH

The exceptional powers granted to military courts by this legislation, the authorization to bypass rules of procedure and evidence, and the establishment of arrangements to carry out death sentences reveal the vengeful and racist nature of the occupation system. It confirms the fascist occupation government’s pursuit to legitimize the killing of Palestinian prisoners, and to turn courts into tools for vengeance and abuse, far from any standards of justice or fair trials.

This legislation also reflects the occupation’s attempts to evade any future paths for exchange deals, by explicitly stipulating the exclusion of Al-Aqsa Flood prisoners from any release deals, in a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and all humanitarian norms.

We warn of the dangerous repercussions of this racist law, and we emphasize that the policy of terror and fascist legislation will not succeed in breaking the will of our people or deterring them from continuing their legitimate struggle until they obtain their full national rights.

We call upon the United Nations, the International Criminal Court, the Human Rights Council, and all international human rights and humanitarian institutions to assume their legal and moral responsibilities, and to take urgent action to stop and annul this criminal legislation, to hold the occupation’s leaders accountable for their ongoing crimes against Palestinian prisoners, and to work to provide international protection for them, as they are prisoners of freedom and resistance fighters resisting a racist, settler-colonial occupation that is condemned by international laws and charters. We confirm that the silence of the international community regarding these racist policies encourages the occupation government to continue its crimes and violations.

Hamas and Palestinian Resistance Factions Condemn Assassination of Azzam Al-Hayya

Thursday: 07/05/2026

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad condemned the continued zionist escalation and assassination campaign targeting resistance leaders and cadres in Gaza, including the strike that targeted Al-Qassam commander Hamza Al-Sharbasi and Azzam Khalil Al-Hayya, son of Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya. The movement stated that these attacks are intended to impose “israeli” conditions on Gaza, evade ceasefire obligations, obstruct reconstruction efforts, and continue the war on the Gaza Strip. The PIJ affirmed that the crimes of the occupation will only strengthen the resolve and steadfastness of the resistance.

Statement issued by the PFLP on May Day

“O workers of the world, crush the hell of imperialism”

The Popular Front on International Workers’ Day: Towards protecting the rights of the toilers and building an international labor front to confront the genocide, break the siege, and end the occupation.

O masses of our working class… O revolutionaries of our steadfast people,

The first of May, International Workers’ Day, arrives as a living embodiment of a historical journey of continuous confrontation against exploitation and injustice, cemented by the blood of workers, during which rights were extracted through decades of struggle and sacrifice.
This day, which marked a milestone in the history of the international labor movement, renews its presence this year in our Palestinian reality, burdened with unprecedented pain, where its combative symbolism mixes with a daily scene of suffering and steadfastness.

We, in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, as we commemorate this glorious occasion and evoke its revolutionary meanings, extend our greetings of reverence and esteem to the martyrs, prisoners, and wounded of the Palestinian labor movement, and to the struggles and sacrifices of the Arab and international labor movement, which were cemented by the blood of workers throughout history for the sake of liberation, social justice, and human dignity.

On this occasion, we affirm that the Palestinian worker is facing one of the most severe stages of targeting today, in light of a war of genocide that targets their physical existence and their ability to survive and produce, and seeks to undermine the foundations of their life and human dignity. What our workers are going through, especially in the Gaza Strip, exceeds traditional descriptions of crises; we are facing a total and comprehensive destruction of the production system, a systematic strike at the foundations of life, and paralysis in the production sector that has led to hundreds of thousands losing their livelihoods. Unemployment rates have reached suffocating levels, turning our working community into a victim of comprehensive aggression, a tight siege, and widespread destruction of factories and workshops. The “food basket” is also being subjected to annihilation, as farmers and fishermen face a scorched-earth policy; agricultural lands have been crushed, fishing boats destroyed, and production areas turned into fields of death and hunger.

The economy has also suffered heavy losses as a result of targeting workers in the occupied West Bank and exhausting them, which caused deep social shock and led to the spread of poverty and the accumulation of debts. The journey in search of work has turned into a daily confrontation with bullets and arrests at checkpoints and walls, where martyrs are killed and the wounded injured while they strive to secure the livelihood of their families.

O masses of the toilers and makers of life… O revolutionaries of truth, freedom, and steadfastness,

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, on this occasion, while renewing its commitment to defending the toiling classes, confirms the following:

1. We affirm our absolute commitment to the rights and interests of the Palestinian working class and our struggling people as a whole for the sake of their freedom, independence, and right of return and the establishment of their independent state with Al-Quds as its capital, in the face of comprehensive targeting that affects their existence and ability to survive and produce.

2. We demand binding policies that protect the rights of the toilers and guarantee the minimum level of decent living and social justice, through official laws and collective agreements that guarantee their rights and establish a fair minimum wage.

4. We emphasize the necessity of rebuilding the Palestinian trade union movement on democratic and representative foundations through fair and comprehensive elections, building an international labor front in cooperation with international unions, and escalating boycotts, strikes, and political pressure tools, including boycotting the “Histadrut” and withdrawing investments from the war economy and the apartheid system.

5. We call for escalating field movement in ports and factories to disrupt supply chains and stop the tools of killing and destruction, expanding the international movement of unions and free people to lift restrictions on food production, and turning the union stance into a global pressure force to stop the genocide, break the siege, and end the occupation.

Long live the first of May as a day for struggle and liberation.. and victory to the toilers and the oppressed.

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Central Media Department
01/05/2026

Testimony by Zionist Soldiers are a Clear Indictation of War Crimes: PFLP

The testimonies made by occupation soldiers and officers regarding the crimes of abuse and torture in the Gaza Strip are explicit admissions of committing systematic war crimes, reflecting the terrorist doctrine that feeds this criminal entity.

The confessions of the zionist murderers regarding burying civilians alive, committing shameful acts against prisoners, and killing children and the elderly in cold blood, prove that what this Nazi army has committed in Gaza is a “policy of total extermination and fascist state terrorism,” led by the zionist military establishment with support from the zionist government to unleash its sadism and moral decline against an unarmed people.

The Front confirms that the shocking international toll, which documents the martyrdom of more than 38,000 women and girls in the Gaza Strip during the zionist war from October 2023 until December 2025, at an average of 47 women and girls martyred daily, and one Palestinian woman every 30 minutes, reflects the existence of a zionist plan to target existence and national identity aimed at tearing apart the Palestinian societal fabric and destroying the elements of life, placing these crimes among the most heinous massacres of the modern era.

These numbers and testimonies reveal an intense face of organized brutality, where killing turns into policy, extermination into daily behavior, and the lives of women and children are violated without limits, in a scene that places the world before a naked truth: a system that practices crime as a policy and operates in the shadow of international silence that amounts to partnership in the continuation of the crime.

Shame will haunt the international system that is content with tracking numbers and avoids clearly naming the zionist criminal, and the lack of serious prosecution of the occupation leaders, soldiers, and officers before international courts; complicity and silence on these atrocities have given the occupation a green light to continue exterminating the Palestinian people and despising humanitarian laws.

The nightmares haunting the occupation soldiers are only the beginning, and the blood of our people, the children, women, and the elderly, will remain a curse haunting these fascist and Nazi killers, and everyone who failed and funded this extermination.

Statement on Lebanon by the Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades

Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades:

The cessation of aggression against Lebanon is the result of the steadfastness of the Lebanese people and their valiant resistance

The Front affirmed that forcing the Zionist occupation to halt its aggression is the fruit of the steadfastness of the people of Lebanon and the immense sacrifices made by the valiant resistance, which fought a legitimate defense of Lebanese land, people, and rights.

The Front extended its greetings to the people of Lebanon, who have suffered from the crimes of the Zionist war machine in a premeditated and planned aggression, affirming its full solidarity with the brotherly people of Lebanon, and with the families of the martyrs, the wounded, and the displaced.

The Front considered this brutal aggression as an extension of the war of extermination, and one of the ongoing series of aggressions by this criminal entity against the peoples and countries of the Arab world and the region.

The Front called for the complete withdrawal of the Zionist entity from every inch of occupied Lebanese land, and warned of the ongoing aggression plans that continue to target Lebanon and its people by all means, aiming to undermine its structure, tear apart its unity, and end its historical role and stance against this occupier.

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

Today in Labor History April 13, 1975: Phalangists in Lebanon killed 26 members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. This marked the start of the 15-year Lebanese Civil War. 120,000 people died in the war and nearly one million people fled the country. One of the worst atrocities of the war was the Sabra and Shatila massacre. Lebanese Phalangists, allied with the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), slaughtered 3,500 Lebanese and Palestinian civilians in a refugee camp. IDF soldiers facilitated the slaughter by blocking exits and preventing civilians from escaping. In 1983, the Kahan Commission found then-Israeli Defense Minister, Ariel Sharon, personally responsible for the massacre. He resigned and then became Prime Minister.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #palestine #israel #idf #lebanon #CivilWar #massacre #SabraAndShatila #PFLP #zionism #FreePalestine #palestine #humanrights