IDF claims to have killed Hamas mastermind behind October 2023 attack

Tel Aviv [Israel], June 29 (ANI): The Israel Defense Forces has announced that they eliminated Hakham Muhammad Issa Al-Issa--one of the founders of Hamas' military wing.

The IDF in a late Saturday night post said that Issa was one of the masterminds of the October 7, 2023 attack.

In a post on X, the IDF said, "ELIMINATED: eliminated Hakham Muhammad Issa Al-Issa--one of the founders of Hamas' military wing. Issa led Hamas' force build-up, training, and planned the October 7 massacre. As Head of Combat Support, he advanced aerial & naval attacks against Israelis. The IDF & ISA will continue to locate and eliminate all terrorists involved in the October 7 massacre."

Meanwhile, as per Al Jazeera, Israel continued its attacks across the Gaza Strip, including an attack that killed at least 20 people, including nine children, in Gaza City's Tuffah neighbourhood.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said he believes a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas could be reached within a week.

Trump came out with the surprise comment while speaking to reporters on Friday, saying he was hopeful after speaking to some of the people involved in trying to get a truce.

"I think it's close. I just spoke to some of the people involved," Trump said, as per Al Jazeera.

"We think within the next week we're going to get a ceasefire," the president said, without revealing who he had been in contact with, as per Al Jazeera.

There is an understanding, according to many reports, that Netanyahu would have to agree to some sort of ceasefire in exchange for normalisation deals with Arab states, which the Trump administration has promoted. Hamas, on the other hand, requires that Israel stop its war on Gaza and for the Israeli military to withdraw from areas it seized in Gaza after breaking the last ceasefire in March.

Trump's ceasefire prediction comes at a time of mounting killings by Israeli forces in Gaza and growing international condemnation of Israel's war amid the latest revelation that soldiers said they were ordered to shoot unarmed Palestinian civilians seeking humanitarian aid in the territory, as per Al Jazeera. (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)