Israel claimed on Thursday that it had killed Hamas’ top military commander Mohammad Deif in an attack in early July.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it launched an attack on Gaza on July 13, targeting two senior leaders of Hamas. The Israel Defense Forces said Deif was the mastermind behind the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel and that he was one of the targets.
“Hamas’ top military commander Mohammed Deif was the target of today’s Israeli attack in Mawasi,” two Israeli sources told Fox Digital News after the attack.
Deif’s death was not confirmed until Thursday.
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An undated photo of Hamas suicide bombing mastermind Mohammad Deif. Little is known about the Palestinian, who has spent the past few years staying one step ahead of his Israeli pursuers. (Reuters)
“The ‘Osama bin Laden of Gaza,’ Mohammed Deif, was eliminated on July 13, 2024,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said in a statement. “This is disintegration. Hamas serves as an important milestone in the process of serving as the military and governance authority in Gaza and in achieving the goals of this war.”
According to the Israel Defense Forces, Deif initiated, planned and executed the October 7 terrorist attack together with Yahya Sinwar, the supreme leader of Hamas in Gaza. Hamas terrorists have killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and taken 251 hostages in Gaza. Sinwar is believed to still be hiding in Gaza.
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Palestinians search for bodies and survivors at the site of Israeli bombardment in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, July 13, 2024. Mohammed Deif was killed in an airstrike in Gaza in July. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi, File)
“Deif commanded, planned and carried out numerous terrorist attacks against the State of Israel over the years,” the IDF said. “Deif fought alongside Yahya Sinwar and during the war, he supported Hamas by Senior members of the military branch issue orders and instructions directing Hamas’ terrorist activities in the Gaza Strip.”
Israel said on Tuesday it had killed Fouad Shukr, a senior Lebanese Hezbollah commander. Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was reportedly assassinated in Tehran, Iran, on Wednesday.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) and Israeli Defense Minister Yov Galante pose for a photo in the West Bank in August 2023. (Amos Ben-Gershom (GPO)/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for Wednesday’s attack in Tehran that killed Haniyeh.
The assassination of two of Hamas’ top leaders is a victory for Israel, which has pledged to continue the war in Gaza until Hamas’s military capabilities are eliminated. However, the attack complicates ceasefire negotiations pushed by the Biden-Harris administration. Iran has vowed to retaliate for the attack that killed Haniyeh.
Israel has killed some 39,480 Palestinians and injured more than 91,100 others during its 10-month bombing and offensive campaign in Gaza, according to the Hamas-led Gaza health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. More than 80 percent of the 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes, with the vast majority huddled in tent camps in the territory’s southwestern corner with limited food and water.
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Deif was one of the founders of the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, in the 1990s and led the force for decades. Under his command, it carried out dozens of suicide bombings against Israelis in buses and cafes and built a powerful arsenal of rockets that could penetrate deep into Israel, and often did so.
Deif operated behind the scenes in Gaza and never appeared in public. He is rarely photographed and his voice rarely appears in audio statements. He survived several Israeli assassination attempts before his eventual death in July.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
