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Israel Says Hamas Armed Wing Chief Killed in Gaza Strike

Mourners carry portraits of Ezzedine Al-Haddad, the slain chief of the Qassam Brigades -- the armed wing of Palestinian movement Hamas, who was killed in an overnight Israeli strike along with his daughter and wife, during their funeral in Gaza City on May 16, 2026. (AFP)
Mourners carry portraits of Ezzedine Al-Haddad, the slain chief of the Qassam Brigades -- the armed wing of Palestinian movement Hamas, who was killed in an overnight Israeli strike along with his daughter and wife, during their funeral in Gaza City on May 16, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel Says Hamas Armed Wing Chief Killed in Gaza Strike

Mourners carry portraits of Ezzedine Al-Haddad, the slain chief of the Qassam Brigades -- the armed wing of Palestinian movement Hamas, who was killed in an overnight Israeli strike along with his daughter and wife, during their funeral in Gaza City on May 16, 2026. (AFP)
Mourners carry portraits of Ezzedine Al-Haddad, the slain chief of the Qassam Brigades -- the armed wing of Palestinian movement Hamas, who was killed in an overnight Israeli strike along with his daughter and wife, during their funeral in Gaza City on May 16, 2026. (AFP)

Israel said Saturday it had killed Hamas armed wing chief Ezzedine Al-Haddad in an airstrike in Gaza the previous day, describing him as a key architect of the October 7 attacks. 

Since Hamas's October 7, 2023 cross-border assault, the Israeli military and intelligence services have waged a campaign targeting the group's senior political leaders and military commanders in Gaza and across the region. 

The military said Friday it had carried out an airstrike in Gaza targeting Haddad, before confirming his death on Saturday. 

"The army and the ISA announce that yesterday, in a precise strike in the area of the City of Gaza, the terrorist Ezzedine Al-Haddad was eliminated," the military said, referring to itself and the Shin Bet domestic security agency. 

A Hamas official told AFP that Haddad had been killed in an Israeli strike on a residential building. 

"Senior commander... Ezzedine Al-Haddad was assassinated in an Israeli strike targeting a residential apartment and a civilian vehicle in Gaza City yesterday," the official said. 

Haddad was killed along with his wife and a daughter, according to another Hamas source. 

AFP photographs showed mourners carrying Haddad's body, wrapped in a Hamas flag, on a stretcher from the ruins of a building. 

It was later taken to a mosque where relatives and mourners offered prayers before carrying it through the streets for burial. 

The military said Haddad was "one of the last senior commanders in Hamas's military wing who directed the planning and execution of the October 7th massacre". 

Haddad was also involved in holding Israeli hostages during the war, it added. 

"Haddad managed Hamas's hostage captivity system and surrounded himself with hostages in an attempt to prevent his elimination," it said. 

- 'Immense loss' - 

Hazem Qassem, a Hamas spokesman, said Haddad was one of the "greatest fighters" in Palestinian history. 

"Haddad stands among the towering figures of the Palestinian revolution, having sacrificed greatly for the freedom of Jerusalem and for its prisoners," Qassem told AFP. 

"This loss is immense, but the path forward continues until liberation." 

Israel's military chief Lieutenant Colonel Eyal Zamir called the killing a "significant operational achievement". 

"In every conversation I held with the hostages who returned, the name of the arch-terrorist Ezzedine Al-Haddad... came up again and again," Zamir said, in a separate statement. 

"Today, we succeeded in eliminating him. The army will continue to pursue our enemies, strike them, and hold accountable everyone who took part in the October 7th massacre." 

Over the course of the war, Israel has claimed responsibility for the assassinations of several Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, widely regarded as a mastermind of the October 7 attack. 

It also killed Mohammed Deif, the longtime commander of Hamas's armed wing and another key architect of the attack. 

Israeli strikes have also targeted Hamas operatives in Lebanon, as well as senior Hezbollah commanders allied with the group, including former Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. 

Later on Saturday, in a separate statement the military said its forces had killed three more Hamas fighters over the past two weeks, including two who took part in the October 2023 attacks. 

- Violence continues in Gaza - 

Born in 1970, Haddad assumed command of the armed wing in May last year following the killing of his immediate predecessor, also in an Israeli strike, according to a Hamas source. 

He had previously survived six assassination attempts by Israel, the source told AFP. 

He was also a founder of Hamas's security service and oversaw prisoner exchanges, including those conducted under the ceasefire reached in October last year. 

Fighters from Hamas's armed wing led the October 7 attack, which according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures left 1,221 people dead on Israeli side. 

Fighters also abducted 251 hostages to Gaza. 

Israel's retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 72,700 people, according to the territory's health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority. 

The figures are considered reliable by the United Nations. 

Despite an October ceasefire, Gaza remains gripped by daily violence as Israeli strikes continue, with both the military and Hamas accusing one another of violating the truce. 

At least 856 Palestinians have been killed since the truce began, according to the territory's health ministry. 

Over the same period, the Israeli military said five soldiers have been killed in Gaza. 

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Arab World

Charity Kitchen Closures Threaten Thousands of Families with Hunger in Khartoum

Women line up ahead of a food distribution (Asharq Al-Awsat). 
Women line up ahead of a food distribution (Asharq Al-Awsat). 
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Charity Kitchen Closures Threaten Thousands of Families with Hunger in Khartoum

Women line up ahead of a food distribution (Asharq Al-Awsat). 
Women line up ahead of a food distribution (Asharq Al-Awsat). 

Thousands of displaced people in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, are struggling to secure a daily meal as dozens of charity kitchens have closed or scaled back operations because of funding shortages, leaving growing numbers of families at risk of hunger.

Al-Sadiq Siddiq, who supervises a charity kitchen in Omdurman, said dwindling donations had forced organizers to reduce the number of meals provided to families.

“We are facing growing difficulties because of a shortage of financial support from donors and benefactors,” he said, warning that conditions were deteriorating as hunger spread among poor and vulnerable communities.

The scramble for food had reached distressing levels, he added, with some people resorting to physical fights over portions of beans or lentils.

“These conditions are pushing more families into hunger and leaving them unable to secure even the minimum amount of food they need,” he stated.

One Meal a Day

Abbas Mahjoub, a supervisor at a charity kitchen in the East Nile area, noted that the facility had served more than 800 families before it closed. Many residents now survive on a single meal a day, unable to meet their basic food needs.

Al-Bukhari Ishaq, who supervised a kitchen in eastern Al-Jarif, said it had shut down more than eight months ago after funding from the East Nile Emergency Response Room, which provided grants to charity kitchens, declined.

Ishaq told Asharq Al-Awsat that dwindling donations and reduced contributions from aid organizations, including the World Food Program (WFP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), had severely undermined the kitchen’s operations.

The facility had provided daily meals to around 400 families, he explained, and its closure deprived hundreds of households of an essential source of food amid worsening living conditions.

Altouma al-Jak, who supports a family of nine, told Asharq Al-Awsat that her grandchildren had dropped out of school because she could no longer afford breakfast, transportation or school supplies, including clothes, shoes, books and notebooks.

“Sometimes days go by when my children don’t have enough to eat,” she said sadly.

Her family had depended on a charity kitchen for food, and its closure amounted to “a slow death,” she explained, particularly as soaring prices had put basic food supplies beyond the reach of many households.

She expressed hope that the war would end and peace would return to Sudan, allowing people to live with dignity.

Hunger Deepens

Salwa Abdullah Adam lost her husband during the war when he was struck by a shell, leaving her solely responsible for seven children, the youngest a nine-month-old baby.

Standing in a long line outside a charity kitchen to collect a simple meal for her children, she described the mounting hardship.

“Life is getting harder day by day,” she remarked.

Her children go to school without spending money and return home to eat whatever corn porridge is available, while the family struggles to meet their daily needs.

Healthcare is another challenge. Adam said charitable doctors sometimes help her obtain medicines for her children from pharmacies, but when adults fall ill, they have little choice but to endure their illnesses and take painkillers.

A Lifeline for Families

Ali Abdullah Youssef faces similar difficulties to other families relying on charity kitchens, locally known as takaya, for their only daily meal.

“Conditions are extremely difficult. Without this charity kitchen, we wouldn’t be able to get food,” he said.

He warned that the closure of such kitchens would leave his family in a desperate situation, with no source of income and living costs continuing to rise.

Accounts from beneficiaries illustrate the hardship caused by the closures, particularly among families that have lost their livelihoods and now depend on meals distributed by charitable initiatives.

The struggle to obtain food comes amid mounting international warnings over Sudan’s worsening food crisis.

On October 26, dozens of countries, including the United States and major European nations, expressed concern over the continued deterioration of food security in Sudan and called on both parties to the conflict to remove all obstacles to humanitarian aid deliveries.

In June, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) reported that approximately 5.1 million people in Sudan were facing acute hunger.

The crisis has been compounded by the war that erupted in 2023, which has damaged the agricultural sector and hampered farmers’ ability to harvest their crops, alongside a recent drought.

Arab World

Gaza Turns Rubble into Power with Homemade Wind Turbines

In war-ravaged Gaza, where shortages are constant, every watt counts. Eyad BABA / AFP
In war-ravaged Gaza, where shortages are constant, every watt counts. Eyad BABA / AFP
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Gaza Turns Rubble into Power with Homemade Wind Turbines

In war-ravaged Gaza, where shortages are constant, every watt counts. Eyad BABA / AFP
In war-ravaged Gaza, where shortages are constant, every watt counts. Eyad BABA / AFP

Above a maze of tents in a crowded displacement camp in Gaza, homemade wind turbines made from scrap metal and salvaged debris spin in the sea breeze, bringing electricity to struggling Palestinians.

In the southern Khan Yunis camp, Kamal Al-Dabary, a former engineering student, has put his skills to work for families who, like most Gazans, live in displacement with no direct access to the tiny territory's shattered power grid.

According to the World Bank, more than 90 percent of Gaza's power generation and distribution capacity was destroyed in April 2026, much of it in Israeli strikes that devastated homes and infrastructure, AFP reported.

Sitting on the ground, Dabary tinkered with electrical wires, metal parts and basic tools on a plastic table.

After carefully twisting cables together and testing them with a multimeter, a small bulb flickered on, then another, signaling that the current was flowing.

"When solar panels were still relatively affordable, we bought one and kept moving it around to follow the sun," the 60-year-old, displaced by the fighting between Israel and Hamas, told AFP.

The war was triggered by the Palestinian movement's deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

But after three years of war, prices have soared as aid and commercial supplies trickled into Gaza through crossings tightly controlled by Israel.

A single solar panel now costs at least 15,000 shekels (nearly $5,000), putting it out of reach for most Gazans, Dabary said.

- 'Changed everything' -

"We haven't had work or income for three years," he added.

"That's when the idea of a wind turbine came to mind. Why not harness the wind? So we salvaged parts from the rubble."

The turbines are built from scooter motors and old water tanks cut into blades.

As the wind turns the blades, they drive a motor that generates electricity. The power then passes through circuits assembled from parts recovered from destroyed homes before being stored in batteries.

This provides enough electricity to charge phones and run lights, fans and even electric razors, small comforts that have become a luxury for families still living in tents and shelters.

Nearly all of Gaza's residents were displaced at least once during the war, and most now live in a small area still under Hamas rule, while Israel controls more than 60 percent of the territory along its perimeter.

"They help us hold on... until God delivers us from this ordeal and we can return home," said Dabary, known locally as Abu Ayman.

The output remains modest. But in a camp where shortages are constant, every watt counts.

The system "has changed everything," said 50-year-old Saleh ben Hasan.

With healthcare and medication hard to access in Gaza, the power can also help keep medical equipment running.

"If a child needs a nebulizer (a device used to inhale medicine) in the middle of the night, who else can we turn to?" he said.

"Electricity is needed... So we turn to our brother Abu Ayman."

Arab World

Egypt Offers Israel Fresh Assurances over Sinai Development Projects

The Minister of Transport inspects the railway line in Sinai (Egyptian Ministry of Transport)
The Minister of Transport inspects the railway line in Sinai (Egyptian Ministry of Transport)
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Egypt Offers Israel Fresh Assurances over Sinai Development Projects

The Minister of Transport inspects the railway line in Sinai (Egyptian Ministry of Transport)
The Minister of Transport inspects the railway line in Sinai (Egyptian Ministry of Transport)

Egypt issued fresh assurances to Israel over its development projects in the Sinai Peninsula, amid Israeli media reports expressing concern about the projects.

Experts told Asharq Al-Awsat that Egypt's reassurances were intended to underscore that developing Sinai was an irreversible national security priority, and that Cairo would not be swayed by Israeli claims or reservations, stressing that its development plans were an entirely domestic matter.

Egyptian Transport Minister Kamel al-Wazir said the 500-km Arish-Taba railway was primarily a development project, dismissing concerns over its purpose. He said the railway, along with plans to build villages and factories, would encourage Egyptians to settle in Sinai, describing this as essential to national security.

Israeli media reports have raised concerns about the railway's potential "strategic and military implications", arguing that it could facilitate the rapid movement of large quantities of equipment, goods and personnel across the peninsula.

Al-Wazir, speaking during a visit to North Sinai, said the railway was intended to support peaceful development and settlement, adding that there was no reason for concern.

The project forms part of a wider transport network linking the Suez Canal cities with Sinai, connecting the ports of Arish and Taba through railways, highways and logistics zones.

Military and strategic expert Major General Ayman Abdel Mohsen said the minister's remarks highlighted the role of development in national security, arguing that securing Sinai went beyond military measures and required encouraging people to settle there.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that Egypt would press ahead with infrastructure projects in Sinai regardless of Israeli objections, rejecting concerns raised in Israeli media over the railway and logistics corridors.

Major General Adel al-Omda, an adviser at the Military Academy for Postgraduate and Strategic Studies, said the remarks followed Israeli statements about Sinai and reflected Egypt's commitment to implementing its development and security plans. He said Egypt aimed to settle between three million and eight million people in the peninsula by 2030.

Al-Omda said President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had outlined a three-pronged plan to develop and secure Sinai, covering security, development and public awareness. He said security operations had been carried out, while new cities, including New Rafah, New Ismailia and New Port Said, had been built in and around the peninsula and connected through road and transport networks. Awareness campaigns, lectures, and seminars were also being held in Sinai.

Egypt has continued to pursue development projects across the peninsula, with the government reporting significant progress in recent years. In late 2023, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said the government had spent more than 600 billion Egyptian pounds ($11.6 billion) on Sinai development over the previous decade, funding projects in infrastructure, roads, housing, water and tunnels.