Hamza bin Laden may indeed be dead, but jihad leaders have disappeared for long periods and been reported dead before. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed at least four times, every year between 2014 and 2017.
URGENT: ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi allegedly killed by US airstrikes September 6, 2014
Radio Iran: Islamic State’s caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead of injuries from airstrike Pentagon denies hit him April 27, 2015
Is the Islamic State’s caliph al-Baghdadi dead (again)? June 17, 2016
Islamic State caliph al-Baghdadi is dead (again) June 11, 2017
Hamza’s father was also thought by many to be dead when he went over a year without being heard from. Then he popped up again.
“Osama bin Laden’s son and heir, Hamza, is dead, U.S. officials say,” by Courtney Kube, NBC News, August 1, 2019:
WASHINGTON — The United States has obtained intelligence that the son and potential successor of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Hamza bin Laden, is dead, according to three U.S. officials.
The officials would not provide details of how Hamza bin Laden died or if the U.S. played a role in his death. The death occurred some time in the past two years, said the officials, but confirmation came only recently.
Asked by reporters on Wednesday whether the U.S. had intelligence that Hamza is dead, President Donald Trump said, “I don’t want to comment on that.”
Hamza bin Laden’s last known public statement was released by al Qaeda’s media arm in 2018. In that message, he threatened Saudi Arabia and called on the people of the Arabian peninsula to revolt.
Hamza bin Laden is believed to have been born around 1989. His father moved to Afghanistan in 1996 and declared war against the U.S. Hamza went with him and appeared in al Qaeda propaganda videos. As leader of al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden oversaw operations against Western targets that culminated in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York’s World Trade Center and on the Pentagon….