Hamas commander Mohammed Deif has been killed in an airstrike, the Israeli military said today, a day after group leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Iran.
“IDF fighter jets have carried out strikes in the Khan Yunis area and following an intelligence review, it can be confirmed that Mohammed Deif was eliminated in the strike,” the Israeli military said in a statement today.
The one-eyed Hamas commander was reportedly killed on July 13, it was confirmed on Thursday after Hamas‘ political leader was killed by an ‘air missile’ in Tehran. Israel did not immediately claim responsibility for Haniyeh’s death.
Deif is believed to have been responsible for planning and executing the bloody invasion of Israel on October 7, in which Hamas members and their allies killed approximately 1,200 Israelis and took about 240 hostages.
Mohammed Deif, the leader of the Al-Qassam Brigades, was killed in an airstrike, the Israeli military claimed.
Palestinians evacuate a body from a site hit by an Israeli bombardment in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on July 13
Deif, leader of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, was one of the most wanted men in Israel for nearly three decades and has been on the US list of “international terrorists” since 2015.
Israel has tried to assassinate him five times: in 2001, 2002, 2006, 2014 and in May 2021.
The attacks left both his legs and an arm blown off and his wife and two children dead.
As the war in Gaza continued, Israel targeted Deif on July 13, hitting a compound on the outskirts of the town of Khan Younis. There was no immediate confirmation that he had been killed.
Gaza health officials said more than 90 other people were killed in the attack, including displaced civilians living in tents nearby.
The house where Deif was believed to have lived was hit by a 2,000-pound bomb, creating a gigantic creation.
The former bombmaker was one of the founders of Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades, in the 1990s and led the unit for decades.
Under his leadership, dozens of suicide bombings were carried out on Israelis in buses and cafes, and a huge arsenal of rockets was built up, capable of striking deep into Israel.
According to the Israeli military, Deif was operating in conjunction with Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas in Gaza.
“During the war, he directed Hamas’ terrorist activities in the Gaza Strip by issuing orders and instructions to senior members of Hamas’ military wing,” the report said.
There were rumors that the sinister mastermind behind the October 7 attacks had been killed earlier this month, but the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in mid-July that it was “still not completely certain” whether Deif was dead.
The announcement came a day after political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an airstrike in Tehran.
Haniyeh, a multibillionaire who had been living in exile in Qatar since 2019, was reportedly killed when a “guided projectile in mid-air” hit his compound in Tehran. Israel has not claimed responsibility.
After being appointed Hamas’ top official in 2017, Haniyeh has been traveling between Turkey and Qatar’s capital, Doha, to avoid travel restrictions in the blockaded Gaza Strip.
This role allowed him to act as a negotiator in ceasefire negotiations or to talk to Hamas’ ally Iran, and to act as a link between hardliners like Yahya Sinwar (Hamas’ leader in Gaza) and the outside world.
Many people living in the besieged Gaza Strip, including members of Hamas, became disillusioned with Haniyeh as he increasingly distanced himself from the people on the ground.
‘The fact that he was living in a five-star hotel in Doha made him very unpopular with some Hamas figures in Gaza,’ Dr Andreas Krieg, senior lecturer in Security Studies at King’s College London, told MailOnline.
“He is not someone the organization has much confidence in. But it is clearly a very symbolic strike.”
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, pictured in Iran on Tuesday, hours before his death
Haniyeh (right in photo) accompanied other senior Hamas officials in a private jet, undated
Although Iran has vowed revenge for Haniyeh’s death, his killing is not expected to lead to a dramatic escalation of the regional conflict.
“What this offers is a head on a silver platter,” Dr. Krieg added. “Netanyahu can say this is the end of the organization. And that’s about the closest Israel will ever come to defeating Hamas.
“But that can only work if Israel now says, ‘We are prepared to start ceasefire negotiations.’”
‘All parties do not want an all-out war. All parties want to keep their reputations high. No one wants to lose face. These people are replaceable.
‘All parties will find a way to respond to this tit-for-tat escalation in an appropriate manner, beyond a certain ceiling… all parties have pushed the boundaries, but they have always tried not to cross them.’