Slain deputy chief of Hamas armed wing given Gaza burial
Hundreds of Hamas fighters and onlookers gathered in the Gaza Strip's Bureij refugee camp on Friday for the funeral of Marwan Issa, the slain deputy leader of the movement's armed wing.
Brandishing assault rifles, their eyes the only visible feature behind black masks, fighters from the group's armed Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades packed the narrow streets of the central Gaza camp for the funerary procession.
The Israeli military had said it had killed Issa in a March 2024 air strike, but his death was only confirmed by Hamas on January 30 amid an ongoing ceasefire with Israel in Gaza.
The group also announced the death of Al-Qassam's military chief Mohammed Deif, who Israel had said it had killed in a July airstrike, as well as a number of other fighters and commanders.
Issa's coffin, draped in the green Hamas and Palestinian flags and adorned with pictures of the slain deputy, was carried aloft by fighters during the procession. Friday prayers before the burial were held in a sports stadium in the camp.
'Do not think that the resistance has ended with the assassination of the great leader Marwan Issa,' said a fighter from the militant group Islamic Jihad, whose members were also out in force at the funeral.
'We have many resistance fighters and heroes, and we are constantly preparing for you,' he added.
Israel had accused Issa of being one of the organizers of Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack, which started the Gaza war.
In a hostage handover on Saturday, as part of the terms of the ceasefire deal, scores of Hamas fighters carried pictures of the slain commanders in a show of strength in Gaza City's port.
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