Debuting new spokesman, Hamas admits former ‘Abu Obeida’ killed in August

Terror group also confirms death of Muhammad Sinwar for the first time, seven months after the commander was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza

Hamas’s armed wing officially confirmed on Monday the deaths of its longtime spokesman and a number of other senior officials, months after they were killed in Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip.

Making his public debut, the new spokesman of the al-Qassam Brigades, said he would also go by the nom de guerre Abu Obeida — like his predecessor. He also announced that the terror group’s commander, Muhammad Sinwar, and Rafah brigade chief Muhammad Shabana had been killed in May, that senior Qassam officer Hakem al-Issa had been killed in June, and that Hudhaifa Samir Abdallah al-Kahlout — the former Abu Obeida — was killed in August.

The deaths of all four had already been confirmed by Israel.

“We have inherited the title ‘Abu Obeida’ from the commander Hudhaifa al-Kahlout, and we pledge to continue the journey,” said the spokesman in his first public speech, without revealing his own identity.

He also paid tribute to Qassam’s slain second-in-command Raed Saad, who was killed by Israel earlier this month, and whose death Hamas had already officially acknowledged.

Monday’s statement was the first time Hamas referred to Kahlout by his real name or showed his face in public. The IDF had publicly revealed Kahlout’s name and image early in the war.

Like the previous Abu Obeida, the new spokesman delivered his statement with a keffiyeh over his face and wearing military fatigues with a nametag that read “military spokesman.”

In August, Israel announced that al-Kahlout, the previous Abu Obeida, was killed in an airstrike in Gaza City in the northern Strip.

And the IDF announced in May that it had killed Sinwar two weeks earlier while he was in a tunnel underneath a hospital in the southern Gaza Strip. In August, Hamas described him as a “martyr,” confirming his death, without issuing an official statement.

The IDF said the strike that killed Sinwar had also killed Shabana, commander of the terror group’s Rafah Brigade, and Mahdi Quara, commander of the South Khan Younis Battalion.

Kahlout, the former Abu Obeida, had been the spokesman of Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, since 2004. He rose to prominence in 2006 when he announced the kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.

The always-masked Abu Obeida had since been the voice of the terror group’s higher-profile statements and its psychological warfare.

Muhammad Sinwar took charge of the terror group’s military wing following the killing of Hamas’s top military commander, Muhammad Deif, in July 2024. He was the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the former leader of the terror group, who co-masterminded the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. After Israel killed Yahya Sinwar in October 2024, Muhammad Sinwar became the de facto leader of the terror group in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli officials described Sinwar at the time of his death as obstinate concerning negotiations for the release of hostages and as an obstacle to reaching a ceasefire deal.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.