“Marwan Issa”: Who was the man in the shadows and right-hand man of Muhammad Al-Daif?
Al-Naz Rahmat Nejad: Muhammad al-Daif, nicknamed Abu Khalid, commander-in-chief of the Qassam Brigades, along with Marwan Issa, nicknamed Abu al-Bara, deputy commander-in-chief of the Qassam Brigades, Ghazi Abu Tamaa, commander of the weapons and combat services department, Raed Thabit, commander of the human resources department, Rafi Salameh, commander of the Khan Yunis division, Ahmed al-Ghandour, commander of the Northern Division, and Ayman Nofal, commander of the Central Region Division of the Qassam Brigades, were among the prominent martyrs who were martyred during the Gaza War.
The news of the martyrdom of Muhammad al-Dif and his companions was announced on Thursday, February 1, two weeks after the Gaza ceasefire agreement and after the identities of the martyrs were confirmed. Al-Dif and his companions were martyred on the battlefield, and the manner of their martyrdom drew a line of invalidity on the occupiers’ narrative that the resistance commanders were hiding.
At the opportunity, we examined and reviewed the life and struggles of Marwan Abdul Karim Ali Issa (Abu al-Bara), the deputy commander-in-chief of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, who was martyred along with Muhammad al-Dif during the Gaza War, which is detailed in the rest of this report;
The shadow man and right-hand man of Muhammad al-Daif
Marwan Abdul Karim Ali Issa, nicknamed Abu al-Bara, was the shadow man and right-hand man of Muhammad al-Daif the deputy commander-in-chief of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and a member of the political and military bureau of the Islamic resistance movement Hamas. He was born in 1965 in the Burij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. He completed his education at the Islamic University of Gaza. Marwan Issa was a prominent basketball player nicknamed the “Palestinian Ranger”. Marwan Issa also belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood in his youth and participated in its defensive, social, and organizational activities.
The Formation of Abu al-Bara’s Qassam Ideology in Prison
The Zionist occupiers arrested him in 1987 on charges of joining Hamas. Then, Marwan Issa was arrested by the Palestinian Authority in 1997 and was not released until after the Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000.
When Abu al-Bara was released from prison, he gave up sports and joined the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, at the age of 19. He was introduced to the movement by Ibrahim al-Maqdamah. Abu al-Bara studied with Ibrahim al-Maqdamah every week in the camp’s large mosque. Ibrahim saw in Abu al-Bara a shrewdness and intelligence that distinguished him from his peers.
Marwan Issa’s Qassam ideology was formed after his arrest and imprisonment in the black holes of the Zionist regime; for this reason, he joined the Qassam Brigades immediately after his release. Abu al-Bara participated with a group in a series of martyrdom operations in 1996 in revenge for the assassination of engineer Yahya Ayyash, along with several prominent figures such as Hassan Salameh.
A pivotal role in developing Qassam’s capabilities
After his release from prison, Issa played a pivotal role in transforming the Qassam Brigades from paramilitary cells designed according to a military structure to battalions, units, and brigades based on a clear military hierarchy. His name was officially mentioned among the names of the first-rank leaders of the Qassam Brigades in the September 2005 statement, ten days before the withdrawal from Gaza.
The “Tolu’ al-Fajr” special issue was published by Qassam during the Israeli regime’s withdrawal from Gaza, which included interviews with some Qassam leaders. In the aforementioned special issue, Marwan Issa was introduced as “responsible for settlement operations.” Regarding the nature of these operations, the idea of which was put forward by Salah Shehadeh, the former commander of the battalions, he said: “We decided to transfer the battle to the homes of the settlers.”
In the aforementioned special letter, Abu al-Bara explained the mechanism of the settlement raids, which required “effort, rigorous training, and constant preparation” by the resistance fighters, as follows: “A command that discusses the details and forms a committee to examine the possibility of carrying out the operation in terms of achieving the greatest possible success and the least possible loss.”
According to the Zionist report, Abu al-Bara’s efforts during the years of the Al-Aqsa Intifada were in two directions. The first direction was dedicated to the reconstruction of the Qassam Brigades and the organization of the army, which was divided into brigades, battalions, and groups. Marwan Issa was trying to fill the void left by the assassination of engineer Adnan al-Ghul in 2004 by presenting a project for local production that would serve the resistance on land, sea, and air.
In the category of wanted persons and assassination
His efforts in developing the Qassam Brigades were considered a threat to the Zionist regime, causing his name to be placed on the US and EU terrorism watch lists in 2019 and 2023 and placed on the wanted persons list. The Zionist regime sought to assassinate Issa Marwan. The Zionists have said about him: “Issa Marwan is a man of action, not words. He is so smart that he can turn plastic into metal.”
Zionist warplanes also destroyed Marwan Issa’s house twice during the invasion of Gaza in 2014 and 2021, in which his brother Wael was martyred. His 9-year-old son Bara suffered from kidney failure during the siege of the Gaza Strip in 2009, when Bara was denied permission to travel to Egypt for treatment, and eventually died, becoming the 359th martyr of the siege of the Gaza Strip. Another son, Marwan, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza in 2023.
A face that was not revealed until 2011
Abu al-Bara’s face was not revealed until 2011, when he appeared in a group photo taken while receiving prisoners released in the “Wafa al-Ahrar” agreement in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, with Khaled Meshaal, Saleh al-Arouri, and Ahmed al-Jaabari by his side. After the photo was published, the Zionists claimed that the person in the middle of the photo next to them was Marwan Issa.