Confirmed: Hamas' No. 3 Marwan Issa died in Israeli airstrike last week

After a week of speculations, Israeli security officials confirmed on Friday that all signs indicate that Marwan Issa, Hamas’ third-most important commander, died in an Israeli airstrike on March 9, Israeli media reported.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the security officials’ estimation as “a great achievement for Israel” and added, “they will all die, we will reach them all.”

Officials briefing Israel’s security cabinet on Friday said that while Issa’s death hadn’t been confirmed beyond any doubt by the IDF, many indications were pointing to a successful operation.

Hamas neither denied nor confirmed the reports of Issa’s death, which began circulating last Monday as Israel revealed that the IDF and Shin Bet had carried out a targeted strike against Issa two days earlier. Issa has not been heard from since.

Amid rampant speculation about his fate, Israeli media on Friday revealed that documents recently found in Gaza shed light on Issa’s role in planning the Oct. 7 invasion and massacre.

As part of the leading trio of the terror organization in the Gaza Strip, alongside its leader Yahya Sinwar and No. 2 Mohammad Deif, the documents showed Issa as the mastermind behind the preparation of Hamas’ military operations, personally signing the orders by using his nom de guerre, Abu l-Bara’a.

The documents also clarified Hamas’ much more ambitious plans on Oct. 7 to attack about 46 targets, including a base of the IDF’s intelligence unit 8200 and the Israeli Air Force base in Hatzerim.

“If Israel eliminated Marwan it is a huge achievement,” Col. (Ret.) Kobi Marom told Maariv.

“He is the Defense Minister of Hamas, a significant figure in the leadership for years, a member of the government and in many ways also the strategic brain of the military wing of Hamas – and in particular of the October 7 plan.”

“He is the one who conceived and managed the very sophisticated military plan and the entire operation of infiltrating Israel,” Marom said.

The strike on Issa, dubbed the "Shadow Man," was carried out on Saturday after intelligence suggested that he and Razi Abu Tamar, another senior Hamas terrorist, had entered a certain underground compound in the central Gaza Strip.

After the compound was bombed, the IDF also struck Hamas teams arriving in the area with engineering equipment to prevent the Hamas commanders’ rescue from the underground ruins.

Razi Abu Tamar previously served as the commander of the Gaza's central camp brigades, and was more recently responsible for all of Hamas’ weapon systems.

Issa’s death would be the highest-ranking Hamas commander out of dozens already eliminated by Israeli forces since the war began last October.