The son of senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad was reportedly killed in Rafah on Sunday while attempting to flee an underground tunnel system targeted by the IDF, according to family statements circulating on social media and reports in Palestinian media outlets.

Abdullah Hamad was among several terrorists killed as IDF forces struck operatives emerging from a tunnel in southern Rafah, the Hamas-affiliated Quds News Network reported. Additional confirmation came from relatives speaking to The Palestinian Information Center.

In a message posted online, Mohammed Hamad mourned his brother’s death in language that reflected both familial grief and terrorist pride. “My beloved, the light of my heart, Abdullah, has become a martyr,” he wrote. “He departed bravely, not fleeing, under siege and in combat in the tunnels of Rafah. He met The Almighty with contentment and faith.”

Another post, attributed to the same family member, described the conditions under which Abdullah had been hiding. “What pained me was knowing for months that he was hungry, thirsty, exhausted, and trapped underground, only a few kilometers from me, and I couldn’t even send him a sip of water, or a fleeting greeting of longing.”

The IDF has not formally confirmed Abdullah Hamad’s death. But the reported killing comes days after Israel conveyed a proposal—via intermediaries—that would have allowed terrorists sheltering in Rafah tunnels to surrender rather than be killed, according to a report by N12.

“We gave the terrorists in Rafah the option to live and be released from there,” an Israeli source told the outlet. “Up until this moment, they have not agreed to meet the conditions we set. It seems as if they have decided to become martyrs.”

Hamas rejected the notion outright, posting on Telegram that surrender was not an option. The terror group has long insisted on immunity for operatives captured in tunnels behind the so-called Yellow Line.

Abdullah’s father, Ghazi Hamad, is a senior Hamas political bureau member with a long history inside the organization. Born in 1964 in the Yibna Refugee Camp, he served as spokesman for the 2006 Palestinian Authority–Hamas coalition government and has played a central role representing the terror group in negotiations in Doha.

Hamad survived an Israeli strike in the Qatari capital earlier this year. Throughout the war, he has repeatedly defended the October 7 massacre to international media, dismissing global outrage as misplaced and justifying Hamas’s actions as necessary “pressure” on Israel.

In a widely criticized CBS News interview in December 2023, Hamad defended the abduction of Kfir Bibas, a 10-month-old baby, and his four-year-old brother Ariel, both of whom were later murdered in captivity. When pressed on how Hamas could justify kidnapping infants, Hamad replied: “They have to exert pressure on Israel… to tell them you are going in the wrong way.”

The reported death of his son comes as Israeli forces continue to dismantle remaining Hamas strongholds and tunnel networks in Rafah, an area commanders say still harbors entrenched terrorist infrastructure and senior operatives.

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