Hamas commander Mohammed Deif has been assassinated in an airstrike, the Israeli military revealed today, a day after group leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Iran.
‘IDF fighter jets struck in the area of Khan Yunis, and following an intelligence assessment, it can be confirmed that Mohammed Deif was eliminated in the strike,’ the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement today.
WHO KILLED HANIYEH?
The one-eyed Hamas commander was allegedly killed on July 13, confirmed Thursday after Hamas’ political chief was killed by an ‘airborne projectile’ in Tehran. Israel has not claimed responsibility for Haniyeh’s death.
Deif is believed to have been responsible for planning and executing the bloody October 7 incursion into Israel, in which Hamas members and their allies killed some 1,200 Israelis and took some 240 hostage.
THE CONFIRMATION
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said the strike that killed Mr Deif was a ‘significant milestone’ toward achieving the goals of the war.
‘The results of this operation reflect that Hamas is an organisation in disintegration,’ he wrote on X.
Israel believes that Deif, the head of Hamas’s military, and Yahya Sinwar, the top Hamas leader in Gaza, were the chief architects of the October 7 attack.
Sinwar is believed to remain in hiding in Gaza.
