Marwan Abdel Karim Ali Issa (Arabic: مروان عبد الكريم علي عيسى; 1965 – 10 March 2024) was a Palestinian militant who was the deputy commander of Hamas' military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades.
He became the head of the Qassam Brigades in the refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip and played a central role in the development of its military systems. He reported to Mohammed Deif. He was placed on the terror watchlist of the United States in 2019 and the European Union in 2023. Issa was said to have had a major role in planning the 7 October Hamas-led attack on Israel. On 17 March 2024, he was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Nuseirat during the Israel–Hamas war.
Issa became the head of the Qassam Brigades in the refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip and played a central role in the development of their military systems. Issa was later one of Israel's most wanted militants. He was seriously wounded in an Israeli assassination attempt during a 2006 meeting also attended by Deif and other top Qassam Brigade commanders.
Issa rarely appeared in public, but in 2011, he was photographed at a reception for those released in the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange. Issa was a member of the Hamas team negotiating the exchange with Ahmed Jabari, Saleh al-Arouri, and Nizar Awadallah. Issa's home was bombed in 2014 and 2021.
As Deif's second-in-command, Issa was closely involved in planning the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. During the Israel-Hamas war, Issa was one of Israel's three most wanted Hamas militants, alongside Yahya Sinwar and Muhammed Deif, the three forming a military council. Issa would replace Sinwar or Deif if either was killed. The European Union linked Issa directly to the attack and placed Issa and Deif on its terrorist blacklist on 8 December.
According to Tamir Hayman, former head of Israel's Institute for National Security Studies and former head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, Issa played a crucial strategic role in the organization that went beyond military matters. Hayman described him as "the strategic mind of Hamas" and highlighted Issa's influence as a close confidant of Sinwar, acting as a stabilizing force and facilitating connections within the Hamas leadership.
Issa was designated as a terrorist by the United States on 10 September 2019.
Personal life
Issa's eldest son Baraa died in 2009, aged nine, after he was refused passage from the Gaza Strip for medical treatment in Egypt. Another son, Muhammad, was killed in 2023 in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza during the Hamas War.
On 11 March 2024, Israel announced the targeting of an underground facility in Nuseirat, central Gaza, used by Issa, airing footage of the strike and noting that the results were still being analyzed. Five Palestinians were reportedly killed in the bombing. Hamas, which had not disclosed much about its senior military leaders during the war, did not immediately respond.
On 17 March 2024, it was reported that Hamas had confirmed in private that Issa had been killed in the strike. At the time of his killing, Issa was the highest-ranking Hamas commander to be killed in the war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly hailed the news as "a great achievement for Israel" and stated "they will all die, we will reach them all."
On 18 March 2024, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan confirmed Issa's death.
Initially, Hamas did not confirm or deny Issa's death publicly. On 19 January 2025, Hamas officially confirmed that Marwan Issa has been killed. This was later affirmed in a speech by Abu Obaida, the spokesperson for the Qassam Brigades, which serves as the armed wing of Hamas.
