The Israeli military has confirmed that Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip last month.
Deif was the target of an attack on a compound in the Khan Younis area on July 13. Hamas has not yet confirmed his death.
Israel says Deif was one of the masterminds of the October 7 attacks in southern Israel that left 1,200 people dead and 251 taken hostage.
Hamas political leader Ismael Haniyeh was killed on Wednesday during a visit to Iran. Israel has not commented directly on his death.
In a statement released on Thursday, the Israeli military said that “following an intelligence assessment, it can be confirmed that Mohammed Deif was eliminated” in the July 13 attack.
The Hamas-run Gaza health authorities said at the time that the airstrike killed more than 90 people, but denied that Deif was among the dead.
Deif was widely seen as Hamas’ second-ranking official in Gaza, after Yahya Sinwar, the group’s leader in the territory.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Deif’s death was “a significant milestone” in disbanding Hamas.
“This operation reflects the fact that Hamas is disintegrating, and that Hamas terrorists may either surrender or they will be eliminated,” he added.
Mohammed Deif is the leader of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement.
For decades, he was one of the most wanted men by Israel and survived seven assassination attempts.
According to Israeli and Palestinian media, Deif was born in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in Gaza in 1965, when the territory was occupied by Egypt.
In the 1980s as a young man, he joined Hamas and quickly rose in rank.
Israel accused him of plotting and overseeing bombing of buses that killed dozens of Israelis in 1996, and of being involved in the capture and killing of three Israeli soldiers in the mid-1990s.
Deif is also known for helping build tunnels that allow Hamas militants to enter Israel from Gaza.
In 2002, he assumed the position of head of the military wing of Hamas.
In 2014, Israel tried to kill Deif by launching an airstrike on a house in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza, killing his wife, Widad, and their infant son, Ali.
Israel thought Deif was also killed, but he was not in the building at the time.
In the current conflict, Deif is suspected of directing Hamas military operations from underground tunnels inside Gaza.
Confirmation of Deif’s death came at the end of a tumultuous week in the Israel-Gaza conflict, which has raised fears of a wider regional war.
On Saturday, 12 Israeli children and teenagers were killed after a rocket hit a soccer field in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Lebanon-based Hezbollah, vowing that it would pay a heavy price.
On Tuesday, Israel responded by launching an airstrike in Beirut that killed Hezbollah’s senior commander Fuad Shukr and four others, including two children.
Hours later, Hamas political leader Ismael Haniyeh was killed in an attack on the building he was staying in during a visit to Tehran, the capital of Iran.
Source: BBC News
