The United States announced this week that Israel killed the number three operative in the terrorist group Hamas. The death was part of a larger operation that killed or captured hundreds of Hamas fighters as Israel prepares for its attack on the last major Hamas stronghold of Rafah, despite warnings from the Biden administration.
The death of Marwan Issa was announced by U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. Issa was killed in a raid on a hospital, which Israel argued was being used by Hamas as a command base.
“Israel has made significant progress against Hamas,” Sullivan said this week. “They’ve broken a significant number of Hamas battalions, killed thousands of Hamas fighters, including senior commanders. Hamas’s No. 3, Marwan Issa, was killed in an Israeli operation last week.”
Issa was the number three figure in the organization, serving under the head of Hamas’ military wing. Issa is believed to be one of the planners of the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack that killed 1,200 people and sparked the current conflict.
The Israel Defense Force has released Footage from the Navy’s “Shayetet 13” Special Forces Unit during last night’s Large-Scale Operation in and around the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, which resulted in the Liquidation of at least 40 Hamas Terrorists and the Arrest of… pic.twitter.com/yWa1rRKAU2
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) March 18, 2024
President Joe Biden called a potential attack on Rafah a “red line,” though he later walked the comments back. Biden’s statement and calls by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for new elections in Israel were sharply contested by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We’ll go there. I have a red line,” Netanyahu said. “You know what the red line is? That October 7 doesn’t happen again. Never happens again.”‘
Since the start of the current conflict last October, Israel has occupied much of the Gaza Strip including Gaza City. The Israeli government stated that its goal is to remove Hamas from power.
The Biden administration has also been under increasing pressure from Arab American and Muslim American groups, which argue that he is too supportive of Israel. Some Arab and Muslim American leaders called on voters to select ‘uncommitted’ in the Democratic Party presidential primary rather than support Biden as a protest vote.