JERUSALEM: Israel was checking on Monday whether Hamas’s deputy military leader died in an air strike in Gaza, media said, as prospects faded of talks securing a ceasefire to coincide with the holy month of Ramzan.
If his death is confirmed, Marwan Issa would be the highest-ranking official from the Islamist militant movement killed by Israel in five months of war that have pulverised the enclave and killed thousands of Palestinians.
Israeli Army Radio said the Al-Nusseirat camp in central Gaza had been bombed on Saturday night following intelligence about the location of Issa, second-in-command of Hamas’s military wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades.