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Key Points
- Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said the strike that killed Deif was a “significant milestone”.
- The announcement comes a day after Hamas’ top political leader was killed in an apparent Israeli strike.
- Hamas did not immediately comment on the Israeli military’s announcement.
The Israeli military said the head of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, was killed in an air strike in Gaza in July.
The announcement on Thursday comes a day after an apparent Israeli strike in the Iranian capital killed Hamas’
Israel has not confirmed or denied it was behind Tuesday’s strike in Tehran that killed Haniyeh.
Israel targeted Deif in a 13 July strike that hit a compound on the outskirts of the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
The military said at the time that another Hamas commander, Rafa Salama, was killed.
More than 90 other people, including displaced civilians in nearby tents, were killed in the strike, Gaza health officials said at the time.
In a statement on Thursday, the Israeli military said “following an intelligence assessment, it can be confirmed that Mohammed Deif was eliminated in the strike”.
Israel believes Deif, the head of Hamas’ military, and Yahya Sinwar, the top Hamas leader in Gaza, were the chief architects of the 7 October attack that killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel.
Sinwar is believed to remain in hiding in Gaza.
Hamas has said Deif survived the July attack in Gaza and did not immediately comment on the military’s announcement of confirmation.
The killing of two of Hamas’ most senior figures is significant for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who has said he will not end the campaign in Gaza until Israel destroys Hamas’ military capabilities.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said the strike that killed Deif was a “significant milestone” toward achieving the goals of the war.
“The results of this operation reflect that Hamas is an organization in disintegration,” he wrote on X.
The assassinations risk pushing Hamas to harden its position in negotiations for a ceasefire or to drop out completely.
Iran has vowed vengeance for the strike on its soil, raising fears of an all-out regional war.
In its campaign of bombardment and offensives in Gaza since October, Israel has killed some 39,480 Palestinians and wounded more than 91,100 others, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
More than 80 per cent of the population of 2.3 million have been driven from their homes, the vast majority crammed into tent camps in the southwest corner of the territory, with limited food and water.
What do we know about Mohammed Deif?
Deif was one of the founders of Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, in the 1990s and led the unit for decades.
Under his command, it carried out dozens of suicide bombings against Israelis on buses and at cafes and built up a formidable arsenal of rockets that could strike deep into Israel and often did.
He remained a mysterious, underground figure in Gaza.
He never appeared in public, was hardly ever photographed and only rarely was his voice heard in audio statements.
He survived a string of Israeli assassination attempts.