Marwan Abdel Karim Ali Issa (Arabic: مروان عبد الكريم علي عيسى; 1965 – 10 March 2024) was a Palestinian militant who was the deputy commander of Hamas' military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades.
[1] Issa was born in the Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip in 1965,[3] where his family had moved from Ashkelon after they fled or were expelled when Israel was established in 1948.
He was seriously wounded in an Israeli assassination attempt during a 2006 meeting also attended by Deif and other top Qassam Brigade commanders.
Issa was a member of the Hamas team negotiating the exchange with Ahmed Jabari, Saleh al-Arouri, and Nizar Awadallah.
[2][8] During the Israel-Hamas war, Issa was one of Israel's three most wanted Hamas militants, alongside Yahya Sinwar and Muhammed Deif, the three forming a military council.
[4] Issa's eldest son Baraa died in 2009, aged nine, after he was refused passage from the Gaza Strip for medical treatment in Egypt.
[11] On 11 March 2024, Israel announced the targeting of an underground facility in Nuseirat, central Gaza, used by Issa, airing footage of the strike and noting that the results were still being analyzed.
[13] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly hailed the news as "a great achievement for Israel" and stated "they will all die, we will reach them all.