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A Hamas tunnel in the Gaza Strip
Photo: - / AFP
Jake Sullivan, US President Joe Biden's national security adviser, confirmed at a press briefing that Israel killed Marwan Issa last week.
To date, he was considered number three in the Hamas hierarchy and held deputy leadership of the terrorist organization's military wing;
There has been speculation about his possible death for several days.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video message last Monday: "On the way to victory, we have already eliminated number four Hamas.
Numbers Three, Two and One are on the way." He added: "They're all dead men, we'll get them all."
By number four in the Hamas hierarchy, the Israeli head of government probably meant top official Saleh al-Aruri, who died in an air strike in the Lebanese capital Beirut at the beginning of January.
The targeted killing was attributed to Israel at the time, but Israel had not yet commented on it.
With Netanyahu's video message, Israel may have admitted responsibility for this attack for the first time.
A few hours after Netanyahu's comments, army spokesman Daniel Hagari said that the military had tracked down the third highest-ranking Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, Marwan Issa, and may have killed him.
The Israeli Air Force bombed underground facilities in the Nuseirat refugee camp, the spokesman said.
Issa used the tunnel.
Now, more than seven days later, the US has confirmed the death.
With the numbers one and two, Netanyahu refers to the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Jihia al-Sinwar, and the head of the Qassam Brigades, Mohammed Deif.
The Gaza War was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel's history, carried out in Israel by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist Palestinian organizations.
dop/AFP/dpa