Marwan Issa: Who is the deputy to Hamas leader Mohammed Deif?

Marwan Issa, the Hamas leader targeted in an IDF airstrike on Saturday, is the deputy of Mohammad Deif, the head of Hamas’s military with the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Issa represents the brigades in Hamas’s political bureau.

Designated by the US State Department as a terrorist for his role in Hamas in 2019, Issa is part of the founding members of Hamas in 1987 at the beginning of the first intifada, Maariv reported. 

Israel has accused Issa of participating in planning the Hamas October 7 massacre in Israel. On October 8, the European Union also added Issa and Deif to its list of designated terrorists. 

Issa has previously been a target of Israeli airstrikes as one of Hamas's top leaders. In 2012, the IDF carried out several airstrikes in the Gaza Strip. Among those killed was Ahmed Jaabari, the former leader of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Issa was also targeted in these strikes but survived. 

In 2011, Issa was reportedly involved in playing a role in the Gilad Shalit hostage-prisoner swap, where 1,027 Palestinian prisoners were released for Gilad Shalit, among them Yahya Sinwar, the grand architect of October 7, according to the Counter Extremism Project. 

When Yahya Sinwar came to power in Hamas's ranks in 2017, he surrounded himself with several associates, including Issa, among a couple of former cellmates. 

Issa was previously detained by Israel

Issa was most recently detained by the Palestinian Authority in 1997 until the eruption of the second intifada in 2000. He was previously detained by Israel for five years during the first Intifada between 1987 and 1993 for his role in terrorist attacks.  

According to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Issa was previously responsible for Hamas’s special operations unit, where he had close relations with Hamas’s leadership outside of Gaza. 

Little is known about Issa's activities before Hamas's establishment. 

Issa's family is originally from a village south of Ashkelon, from which they fled in 1948 and settled in the center of the Gaza Strip, Maariv reported. Issa was born in 1965 in central Gaza in the Bureij refugee camp, according to the Counter Extremism Project. 

In October, Ynet reported on an IDF raid conducted on his luxury home in al-Bureij in the Gaza Strip, which contained a swimming pool, a large yard, and luxurious furniture.