One of Hamas’s most visible top figures, the spokesman for its military wing, Hudahaifa Samir Abdallah al-Kahlout, was killed at Gaza City on Saturday, Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, confirmed Sunday even as Hamas military leaders sowed doubt about the attack in Arab media. 

Mr. Katz issued a statement on X saying that Kahlout, whose nom de guerre was Abu Obeida, was eliminated “and sent to meet all the liquidated members of the axis of evil from Iran, Gaza, Lebanon, and Yemen at the bottom of hell.”

“Congratulations to the IDF and Shin Bet for the flawless execution,” he continued. “Soon, with the intensification of the campaign in Gaza, many more of his criminal partners—Hamas murderers and rapists—will join him there.”

The IDF targeted Kahlout’s apartment in one of the first strikes in the new offensive by Israeli forces dubbed Operation Gideon’s Chariot II. Al Arabiya reports that Kahlout’s family and leaders of Hamas’s military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, confirmed that Kahlout and everyone else in the apartment was killed. 

However, a spokesman for al-Qassam told the AhlulBayt News Agency that Kahlout was not killed and Israel is lying as part of a  psychological and intelligence operation. The statement came after Hamas fighters reportedly sealed off the apartment building that Kahlout and his family had rented just days earlier in order to sift through the rubble.

Kahlout has been the chief spokesman for Hamas’s military wing for two decades. He was the celebratory voice of Hamas after the October 7, 2023, attacks and was the one who released the footage of abducted Israeli civilians and soldiers and atrocities that occurred on that day.  

He was also the representative providing updates on the status of hostages. On Friday, he warned that hostages and Israeli fighters are being held in the same location as Hamas operatives and under the same perilous conditions. 

Earlier that day, Mr. Katz announced that two deceased hostages, including Kibbutz Be’eri’s deputy head of emergency response, Ilan Weiss, and another whose name has not yet been cleared for publication, had been retrieved by the IDF and Shin Bet. 

Kahlout’s death comes as the Israel Defense Forces announced other significant strikes. On Friday, it said it had killed the head of ISIS’ Palestine District, Muhammad Abd al-Aziz Abu Zubaida, the most senior person representing the terrorist network at Gaza. A day earlier, the IDF eliminated nearly all of the leadership of the Houthi terror group in Yemen, including its prime minister, most of his deputies, and other senior officials. They were targeted in two locations where leadership were holding remote meetings.

“The fate of Yemen is the same as the fate of Tehran – and this is only the beginning,” Mr. Katz said.