Israel’s Systematic Decimation of Hamas Leadership Since October 7

Since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, the IDF and Mossad have executed a methodical campaign to eliminate the terrorist organization’s command structure.

From Chairman Yahya Sinwar to military commander Mohammed Deif, Israel has systematically hunted down and killed Hamas’s top political and military leadership, fundamentally crippling the organization that orchestrated the deadliest attack in Israeli history.

The list of Hamas leaders killed by Israel includes Chairman of the Political Bureau Yahya Sinwar, former Political Bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, military commander Mohammed Deif, Yahya’s brother and senior commander Mohammed Sinwar, Deputy Chief of Military Operations Marwan Issa, Deputy Chairman of the Political Bureau Saleh al-Arouri, and Khan Younis Brigade Commander Rafa’a Salameh.

Yahya Sinwar, chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau and Gaza leader, was killed on October 16, 2024 in Rafah. His death came during a chance encounter when IDF troops spotted militants leaving a building. After Sinwar threw grenades at the soldiers, an Israeli tank fired on his position, and a drone later confirmed his death in the rubble.

Ismail Haniyeh, political leader of Hamas, was assassinated on July 31, 2024, in Tehran, Iran. He was killed inside an IRGC guesthouse after attending Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s inauguration. The operation, believed to have involved either a missile strike or a remotely detonated explosive hidden in his bedroom, exposed major gaps in Iran’s ability to protect high-value figures.

Mohammed Deif, Hamas’s top military commander, was killed on July 13, 2024, in al-Mawasi. Israel dropped eight 2,000-pound bombs on a designated “safe zone,” targeting Deif and Khan Younis Brigade commander Rafa’a Salameh. Intelligence reportedly came from a local postman who had spotted Deif. Israeli quadcopters then struck rescue teams arriving at the scene, killing two civil defense workers.

Mohammed Sinwar, Yahya Sinwar’s brother and a senior Hamas commander, was killed in May 2025 during an Israeli strike near the European Hospital in Khan Younis. The attack, which killed 28 people, targeted Hamas tunnel networks believed to run beneath the hospital complex.

Marwan Issa, deputy chief of Hamas’s military operations, was killed on March 10, 2024 in a precision airstrike in Nuseirat. A central figure in Hamas’s command structure, Issa had survived previous attempts before being eliminated.

Saleh al-Arouri, deputy chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau, was assassinated in January 2024 in Beirut. His death, in an Israeli airstrike, marked an escalation in targeting Hamas leadership outside Gaza and preceded the wave of high-profile killings that followed.

Rafa’a Salameh, commander of the Khan Younis Brigade, was killed on July 13, 2024 alongside Mohammed Deif in the al-Mawasi strike. Salameh was a veteran operative who played a central role in the 2006 cross-border abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and later assumed command of the Khan Younis Brigade in 2016 after Mohammed Sinwar.

According to Israeli assessments, these targeted eliminations have systematically dismantled Hamas’s command structure, leaving the organization without its founding leadership and key operational commanders. The methodical nature of these strikes—spanning from Gaza to Tehran to Beirut—demonstrates Israel’s determination to hold Hamas accountable for the October 7 massacre while severely degrading the group’s ability to plan and execute future operations.

This campaign represents one of the most comprehensive efforts to decapitate a terrorist organization’s leadership in modern warfare, fundamentally altering Hamas’s operational capabilities and command hierarchy. The elimination of figures like Sinwar, who masterminded the October 7 attacks, and Deif, the architect of Hamas’s military wing, has left the organization struggling to maintain coherent leadership and strategic direction in the face of Israel’s ongoing military pressure.

Hamas won the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections, taking 74 of 132 seats. On October 7, 2023, they carried out a large scale attack that killed about 1,200 people in Israel and resulted in roughly 251 hostages taken, and Gazans danced in the streets to celebrate.

Between 2011 and 2021, OECD data show that member states donated approximately $26.7 billion to Gaza. Over 16 years, Hamas spent tens of millions of dollars designing, digging, and cementing an extensive subterranean tunnel system rivaling London’s Underground or Paris’s Metro.

Hamas has an investment portfolio worth about $500 million and an annual military budget estimated at as much as $350 million. Since October 7, estimates show Hamas has funneled nearly $1 billion into its war machine, much of it tied to aid manipulation and illicit economic activity. According to UNOPS, nearly 90 percent of humanitarian aid shipments entering Gaza have been looted or diverted before reaching civilians.

As of September 2025, about 65,000 Gazans have died, and many face hunger despite the fact that Hamas fighters appear to be eating well. Hamas has not surrendered and is still holding 47 men and women captive in Gaza.

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