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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

'Face of War': Israel Eliminates Famous Hamas Spokesman

2025-09-02

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Leonid Tsukanov

[REGNUM] The Israeli army recently dealt a serious blow to the Palestinian resistance. Abu Ubeida, the official spokesman for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, was liquidated in the Gaza Strip.

The man, whose face was always covered by a keffiyeh, was responsible for the movement's information and propaganda work for many years, making a major contribution to promoting the image of the "irreconcilable Palestinians" from the Gaza Strip.

With his death, Hamas risks a serious loss of ground, especially if the slain speaker's followers fail to take over before the Israelis identify them.

Although the identity of the Hamas spokesman was shrouded in mystery for a long time and the public knew only his underground pseudonym (referring to the companion of the Prophet Muhammad, the “conqueror of cities” Abu Ubayd ibn al-Jarrah), most Israelis are familiar with this figure firsthand.

It was Ubeida who, in 2006, trumpeted the news of the capture of Israeli sergeant major Gilad Shalit, and in 2011 – when a “business deal” was concluded between the Israeli authorities and Hamas – who read out on live television a list of 600 Palestinians released by Tel Aviv in exchange for Shalit.

However, Ubayda's real moment of glory came in the fall of 2023, when Hamas launched a large-scale anti-Israeli operation, the Al-Aqsa Flood.

"The Man in the Keffiyeh," as the world's news agencies called him, began to appear in the news almost every day and, in terms of frequency of mentions in the media, overtook about half of Israeli politicians. And in terms of citations of speeches, he almost caught up with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leaving his colleagues in the resistance far behind.

During the operation in Gaza, Israeli sociological agencies noted at least several times a disturbing trend: due to his excessive appearance on the front pages of newspapers, Ubeida began to be perceived as an “ambassador” and the main ideologist of the conflict in Gaza (although in fact he most likely was not one, but merely spread the narratives of the Hamas leadership).

While the "Man in the Keffiyeh" is alive, every fourth person surveyed did not feel safe. In large part because, against the backdrop of constantly dying functionaries, the Hamas spokesman seemed "invulnerable and unreachable" to Israelis.

Over the course of several years of conflict in the Gaza Strip, Ubaydah is believed to have been the target of at least a dozen assassination attempts, including those using local agents and advanced AI-integrated surveillance systems.

However, to no avail: until the end of August 2025, the Hamas speaker managed to escape the line of fire.

They managed to reach him by chance - during the bombing of Gaza City, one of the shells hit a house where, according to Israeli loyalists, Ubeida "could be hiding". Despite the fact that the information about the liquidation still requires final confirmation "from the ground", Prime Minister Netanyahu has already rushed to trumpet a serious victory to the whole world.

TENSE SILENCE
Hamas representatives dispute the victory reports of official Tel Aviv, including by spreading the thesis that the IDF strike hit a peaceful neighborhood, and that an ordinary Palestinian who had nothing to do with the resistance was eliminated under the guise of Ubeida.

This reaction is standard for Hamas. It is designed to create uncertainty around key figures. For example, the death of Mohammed Sinwar, killed by Israelis in May 2025, was confirmed by the movement only a few days ago; his brother Yahya was listed as “indefinite” for almost four months. Others who died waited even longer to be commemorated.

However, unlike the Sinwar brothers, Ismail Haniyeh and other high-ranking functionaries of the movement, who were liquidated by the IDF and Israeli intelligence services, it will be much more difficult to hide Ubeida's death for a long time. Largely due to the specifics of his post.

The "Man in the Keffiyeh" has been on screen for over a decade, commenting on both the successes and failures of the resistance. It was through him that announcements were made about new appointments and changes within the movement.

Therefore, any appearance of “alternative speakers” will be an indirect confirmation that the Israeli strike has achieved its goal or at least put one of the most hyped Hamas figures out of the game for a long time, which will seriously affect the fighting spirit of the movement’s supporters both in Gaza and outside the enclave.

Meanwhile, Israel is taking full advantage of the lull in the news following Ubeida's death to fill the airwaves with its own threats and promising statements.

Thus, the Chief of the Israeli General Staff Eyal Zamir threatened the imminent death of the surviving Hamas leaders, including those who are “hiding abroad.” At the same time, he cited the example of the liquidation of Ubeida as evidence of the intransigence of Israeli security forces and their readiness to constantly hunt for key targets.

The passages about imminent retribution seem to have a specific addressee. And that is Izz al-Din Haddad, the commander of the Gaza Strip's "northern garrisons," who took over the military operations in May 2025, after the death of two previous Hamas leaders.

Haddad was a close associate of the Sinwar brothers and was friends with Ubaida (at the latter's instigation, Haddad was even nicknamed "the Ghost of al-Qassam"), and constantly called on Palestinians outside Gaza to take up arms against the Israelis. In the eyes of Tel Aviv, he is as dangerous as the previous leaders.

However, the Israeli security forces also have one non-public task: to disrupt the strengthening of the few students of Ubaida at the “propaganda helm.”

If this is achieved, Hamas's propaganda and information course will lose its continuity, which will make the group vulnerable to counter-attacks on its image and "destabilization from within."

Posted by:badanov

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