Hamas on Monday officially confirmed the killing of its longtime military wing spokesperson, Abu Obaida, and Mohammed Sinwar, the brother of former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, four months after their deaths in Israeli airstrikes, and announced the appointment of a new spokesperson.
The announcement came in a video lasting more than 20 minutes, in which Hamas also confirmed the deaths of four additional senior figures who were killed during the war and in recent months.
Abu Obaida, who served as spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, for nearly two decades, was killed in an airstrike in Gaza City. Hamas had not formally acknowledged his death until now.
The group also confirmed the killing of Mohammed Sinwar, a senior Hamas commander and former head of its military wing, who was killed in an Israeli strike on the European Hospital in Khan Younis in May, along with Rafah Brigade commander Mohammed Shabana.
Additional deaths confirmed in the video included Raad Saad, described as Hamas’s second-in-command, who was killed this month in an airstrike in Gaza City, and Abu Omar al-Souri.
The Israeli military said in May that it had killed Mohammed Sinwar, the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar. Three months later, it announced that Abu Obaida had also been killed.
Hamas used the video to introduce a new spokesperson for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, marking the first official transition in the role since Abu Obaida’s death.