Gazan news outlets reported on Thursday that Az al-Din Zaqout, known by Hamas as a "hero," was killed in an airstrike in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. Zaqout was renowned in Gaza after he managed to climb one of the Israeli sniper positions during the Gaza border riots in 2018, known as the "Great March of Return," and even received an award from the Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar.
Zaqout was photographed climbing a hill where a makeshift IDF outpost was located until a military jeep drove at him. At that point, he quickly retreated to the border fence. It was reported in Gaza that dozens of bullets were fired at him, and he said that he was sure he would "return wounded or a martyr."
After the incident, Zaqout argued that "we have nothing to lose in Gaza. The marches and the resistance are the only things left for us." He became a symbol of the marches, encouraged young people to join them, and even compensated those injured in these clashes. For these actions, he received an award from Sinwar, at a ceremony attended by Deputy Secretary-General of Islamic Jihad, Mohammed al-Hindi.
In 2021, Zaqout joined the "Night Confusion" unit, which included riots during which young Gazans used flashbangs and burned tires at the border to harass the IDF and the Gaza border communities. Before the massacre on October 7, Hamas resumed these operations and used them to plant IEDs on the fence.