Israel killed the Hamas militant group’s third-in-command final week, the White House mentioned Monday, after Israel beforehand mentioned he had been focused in a Gaza airstrike however didn’t verify his dying.

“Hamas’s number three Marwan Issa was killed in an Israeli operation last week,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan mentioned as he gave a readout of a name between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Sullivan mentioned Israel had additionally “broken a significant number of Hamas battalions, killed 1000s of Hamas fighters including senior commanders.”

“The rest of the top leaders are in hiding, likely deep in the Hamas tunnel network, and justice will come for them too,” he added.

Israel’s army mentioned on March 11 that an air strike on an underground compound in central Gaza on March 9-10 had focused Issa, describing him as one of many planners of Hamas’s October 7 assault on Israel.

Issa was a deputy of Mohammed Deif, who heads Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Israel’s army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari mentioned on the time.

But Hagari mentioned then that it was unclear if Issa had been killed within the operation, including: “We are still examining the results of the strike, and final confirmation has yet to be received.”