New Hamas leader Izz al-Din al-Haddad is standing in the way of a ceasefire deal

Izz al-Din al-Haddad, who has taken over Hamas’s military wing from Mohammed Sinwar, is literally the last man standing after his predecessors were assassinated.

Izz al-Din al-Haddad holds the fate of a ceasefire in his hands, according to international mediators

Among all the masked militants who were watching as three Israeli hostages, including the joint British national, Emily Damari, were released from Gaza was one man who had a vested interest in the transfer going off without a hitch.

By the time the hostages were released in January, Izz al-Din al-Haddad had already risen up the ranks of Hamas after surviving six assassination attempts. He was said to have been charged with rebuilding its civilian and military infrastructure during a brief lull in the war with Israel. Among his other duties was ensuring the hostage handover went smoothly, according to reports at the time.

The ascent of al-Haddad, however, did not stop there. The Times has learnt that the 55-year-old has taken over the military wing of Hamas from Muhammad Sinwar, whose death has been confirmed by the Israeli military. Al-Haddad controls the group in Gaza and intelligence sources said the man, known locally as Abu Suhaib, is holding Israeli hostages and has veto power on the proposal for a ceasefire deal put forward by President Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff. Hamas has said it accepts the deal in principle, but proposed a new timeline for the release of hostages over the weekend. This was decried by Witkoff as “unacceptable” and lamented as a move which “only takes us backward”. International mediators negotiating a ceasefire say al-Haddad is now the last obstacle to a truce.

He is also Israel’s most wanted operative, evading half a dozen assassination attempts beginning in 2008. Since the start of the war, Israel has attempted to kill him three times, including sending troops to a house where he was supposed to be hiding – but he was nowhere to be found.

On October 7, al-Haddad was tasked with co-ordinating the initial penetration into Israeli territory, rallying commanders the night before with a written document of instructions to carry out the attack. It outlined three main goals: mass kidnapping, live broadcasting and the take-down of Israeli communities. In particular, al-Haddad managed the takeover of Nahal Oz military base, where more than 60 Israeli soldiers and 15 civilians were killed and many others spirited into Gaza.

With a previous bounty of dollars 750,000 for any information on his whereabouts, al-Haddad is known to be extremely cautious with his communications, appearances and confidantes.

His oldest son, Suhaib, and his grandson were killed in an Israeli strike last year and his second son this April. He initially worked alongside Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind behind the October attacks, hunting down Palestinians who collaborated with Israel.

A regional security source said: “He’s one of the last and only leaders left standing in the field in Gaza, meaning the pressure he’s under is immense. If there’s no deal, he doesn’t want to go down in history as the last leader to run Gaza as it gets dismantled under Israeli control. On the other hand, he has to show he’s a leader.”

Israel has been intensifying its operations inside Gaza since the breakdown of the last ceasefire in March, refusing to enter into discussions to end the war until Hamas has been crushed. Netanyahu has since called for the group’s leaders to disarm and go into exile.

The Witkoff proposal offers a 60-day ceasefire and the release of 10 living and 18 dead Israeli hostages from the total of 58 being held by Hamas, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners including 125 serving life sentences and more than 1,000 Gazans detained since the start of the war.

Hardline members of Israel’s government are pushing to advance the operation and pursue plans to occupy Gaza in its entirety, cordoning off small parts of it for sterile, civilian-only zones. Diplomats estimate that should a deal fail, Trump will allow Israel to “go all in”, having agreed to its solution for an aid mechanism to feed Gaza’s population.

The Times