The IDF confirmed Tuesday evening that it has killed four out of six senior Hamas officials who the terror group itself have announced as being hit by IDF strikes.
It is possible that all six are dead, but Hamas sometimes spreads misinformation for a variety of strategic reasons, so the IDF does not confirm deaths of its senior officials until it obtains its own independent evidence (and even then there have been a few cases where the IDF wrongly announced having killed a Hamas official.)
The four were: Issam al-Da'alis, who has served as Hamas’s political Gazan prime minister, Mahmoud Abu Watfa, the director-general of Hamas's Interior Ministry and related terror forces, Bahjat Abu Sultan, operational chief of Hamas's internal security apparatus, and Hamas justice minister Ahmed Omar al-Hatta.
Hamas also said that senior officials Muhammad al-Jamasi and Yasir Herev were killed in IDF strikes, though the military has not yet confirmed those deaths.
Details of the senior members
Al-Da’alis was the most senior of the officials, but the most critical officials for Hamas at this stage are its military chief Muhammad Sinwar, brother of Yahya Sinwar, and one of the few remaining central planners of the October 7 invasion, and Khalil al-Haya, who was Yahya Sinwar’s political deputy and has been the lead Hamas negotiator on the hostages issue.
On Monday night, the IDF began striking the Gaza Strip in a move that the Prime Minister's Office said was in response to Hamas's refusal to release the hostages still held in Gaza.
On Tuesday morning, Hamas claimed that over 400 people have been killed and over 600 injured, without distinguishing between fighters and civilians.
The IDF said on Tuesday night that it could not yet corroborate the real totals of those killed and injured and how many were Hamas versus civilians.
Sultan also previously held the position of director-general of the Organization and Administration Authority in Hamas's Interior Ministry.
Hamas eulogized the "martyrs" saying: "As we mourn these leaders who have worked since the beginning of the war of extermination to alleviate the suffering of their people, faithfully shouldering the responsibility entrusted to them, and who have ascended after a journey filled with sacrifices and honorable stances—serving as exemplars of dedication and devotion to their work—we affirm that the loss of government leadership will not deter us from fulfilling our national duty toward our Palestinian people. We remain committed to our religious obligation and our ethical and professional role in serving them, supporting their resilience, and standing firm in the face of this brutal aggression."