Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the head of Hamas' military wing and a planner of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, was killed in a strike in Gaza City on Friday, the Israel Defense Forces said Saturday, hours after envoys from Israel and Lebanon agreed in Washington to extend their shaky ceasefire by 45 days.
The pair of announcements gives Israel its highest-profile battlefield killing in months while pushing back, without resolving, the threat of renewed war on its northern border. The Lebanon truce had been set to expire Sunday.
The Gaza strike
Haddad replaced Mohammed Sinwar atop Hamas' military wing and "was involved in the holding of many Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity," the IDF said, adding that he "surrounded himself with hostages to prevent his elimination." The army described the killing as a "precise strike."
"This is an important closing of a circle. In all the conversations I had with the abductees who returned, the name of the master murderer, Iz al-Din Haddad ... came up time and time again," IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said in a statement.
Haddad's family confirmed his death to The Associated Press and said he was killed alongside six others. Health officials at Shifa hospital and the Palestine Red Crescent Society's Saraya Field Hospital told the AP that seven people were killed and dozens wounded in two Israeli strikes Friday in Gaza City. Haddad's funeral was held in the city on Saturday.
The Washington track
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said the Israeli and Lebanese delegations finished two "productive" days of talks with an agreement to extend the ceasefire that took effect April 17. Another round is scheduled for June 2-3.
"We hope these discussions will advance lasting peace between the two countries, full recognition of each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and establishing genuine security along their shared border," Pigott said on social media.
The Lebanese presidency called the deal "critical breathing space for our citizens" that would "reinforce state institutions, and advance a political pathway toward lasting stability." Last month's talks were the first direct negotiations in decades between the two countries, which have no diplomatic relations.
On the ground
The truce has not stopped the shooting. The Israeli military said Friday it struck Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon after detecting launches from across the border. Lebanon's health ministry said nearly 40 people were wounded in Israeli strikes near Tyre, and that one strike leveled a primary health center and damaged the neighboring Hiram Hospital, wounding six medical staff.
On Saturday, Lebanon's National News Agency reported Israeli strikes on at least five southern villages and heavy artillery bombardment around Kfar Tebnit and Arnoun. The Israeli army issued fresh displacement orders for nine villages near Sidon and Nabatieh.
The counterpoint
Hezbollah opposes the Washington track. Al Jazeera correspondent Obaida Hitto, reporting from Tyre, called the arrangement "a ceasefire in name only," noting that evacuation orders for two buildings in the city were issued as the State Department announced the extension. Lebanese authorities say Israeli attacks have killed more than 2,900 people in Lebanon since the war began, more than 500 of them since the April truce took effect. Hamas had not publicly responded to Haddad's killing by press time.
The next round of Israel-Lebanon talks is set for June 2-3 in Washington.