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Armed Hamas terrorists participated in a mass funeral on Friday for Marwan Issa, a top commander in the group’s military wing, in El Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.
Footage from the event showed large crowds marching alongside heavily armed fighters, in what was seen as another display of strength by Hamas amid ongoing hostilities.
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Masses and armed terrorists at Marwan Issa's funeral in Gaza
Issa, who was 59 at the time of his death, was considered the third-highest-ranking leader in Hamas and served as the deputy to Mohammed Deif, the group’s military chief. He was killed in an Israeli airstrike in March 2024 in Nuseirat, an operation that, at the time, was regarded as Israel’s most significant assassination of the war. That designation later shifted with the killings of Deif and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
The IDF described Issa as a key figure in shaping Hamas' military operations, calling him a founding member of the terrorist group and an architect of the October 7 attack on Israel. He was also involved in the 2006 kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was held captive in Gaza for five years before being released in a prisoner exchange that saw Sinwar's return to Gaza.
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Armed Hamas terrorists in show of force at funeral of senior commander Marwan Issa in Gaza on Friday
Nicknamed "the man in the shadows," Issa had been imprisoned by Israel for five years during the First Intifada for his Hamas-related activities and was later detained by the Palestinian Authority before being released with the outbreak of the Second Intifada.
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Issa played a central role in developing Hamas' military systems within the group's Al-Qassam Brigades and was one of Israel’s most-wanted terrorists. His name was linked to multiple Israeli assassination attempts, including a 2006 airstrike during a meeting with Deif and other Hamas leaders, as well as strikes in 2014 and 2021, the latter of which destroyed his home and killed his brother. His public identity remained largely unknown until he was photographed in 2011 at a reception for prisoners freed in the Shalit deal.
Unlike many Hamas leaders who relocated abroad, Issa remained in Gaza. His son was killed in an Israeli airstrike in December 2023, and his eldest son died a year earlier from an illness after Issa failed to secure his evacuation for medical treatment.
Maj. Gen. (res.) Tamir Hayman, director of Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and former head of Military Intelligence, described Issa as "a multifaceted figure who held three roles simultaneously"—Hamas' "defense minister", the deputy commander of its military wing, and, most critically, its "strategic mastermind."
“He was a close confidant of Sinwar, acting as a stabilizing force on his erratic decision-making,” Hayman said. “As a longtime associate of Deif, he was the key figure connecting Sinwar and Deif—a role that sometimes proves as crucial as leadership itself.”