Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, has officially confirmed the deaths of several senior figures months after they were assassinated by Israel, marking the terror group’s most comprehensive public acknowledgments of leadership losses since the start of the war.

In a statement released Monday, Qassam confirmed that its commander, Muhammad Sinwar, and the head of its Rafah brigade, Muhammad Shabana, were killed in May. It also acknowledged the June killing of senior Qassam officer Hakem al-Issa and the August death of Hudhaifa Samir Abdallah al-Kahlout, better known as Abu Obeida, the group’s longtime spokesman.

The announcement came during the first public appearance of Kahlout’s successor, who paid tribute to the slain leaders and to Qassam’s second-in-command, Raad Saad, whose death earlier this month had already been officially acknowledged by Hamas. The new spokesman said he would assume the same nom de guerre as his predecessor.

“We have inherited the title ‘Abu Obeida’ from the commander Hudhaifa al-Kahlout, and we pledge to continue the journey,” the spokesman said.

The statement marked the first time Hamas publicly referred to Kahlout by his real name or showed his face. Earlier in the war, the IDF had publicly identified Kahlout and released his image.

As with previous Qassam communications, the new spokesman’s identity was not disclosed. He appeared wearing military fatigues and a keffiyeh covering his face, with a name tag reading “military spokesman,” closely mirroring the presentation style long used by the former Abu Obeida.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)