US says top Hamas leader Marwan Issa killed in Israeli airstrike

Israeli forces have killed a top Hamas commander directly linked to the 7 October attack, the White House said on Monday.

Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’s military wing in Gaza, was among Israel’s list of most wanted men and put on European Union’s terrorist blacklist. He was linked to the deadly Hamas attack in southern Israel in which around 1,200 people were killed.

“Hamas’s No 3, Marwan Issa, was killed in an Israeli operation last week,” national security advisor Jake Sullivan said during a White House press briefing.

“The rest of the top leaders are in hiding, likely deep in the Hamas tunnel network, and justice will come for them too.

“We are helping to ensure that,” said Mr Sullivan.

He said Joe Biden and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on the phone on Monday. The US president emphasised during the call his “bone-deep commitment to ensuring the long-term security of Israel and [re]-affirm[ing]…that Israel has a right to go after Hamas, the perpetrators of the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust”.

TheUS president also warned Mr Netanyahu that an Israeli military operation in Rafah would deepen the anarchy in Gaza.

Mr Sullivan told reporters the two countries would have a comprehensive discussion on the way forward in Gaza, where a humanitarian crisis is raging after five months of fighting.

The meeting could happen this week or next and no Rafah operation would proceed before the talks, Mr Sullivan said.

«Anarchy reigns in areas that Israel’s military has cleared, but not stabilised» in Gaza and a humanitarian crisis would deepen if Israel were to go ahead with an offensive in Rafah, Mr Sullivan said, summarising Mr Biden’s message to the Israeli PM.

«We’ve had