Palestinians evacuate a body from a site hit by an Israeli bombardment on Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on July 13. Israel said it targeted Hamas' military commander Mohammed Deif.Jehad Alshrafi/The Associated Press
The head of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, was killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza last month, the Israeli military said on Thursday, a day after the group’s political leader was assassinated in Tehran.
Mr. Deif is believed to have been one of the masterminds of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel which triggered the Gaza war.
An undated handout photo reportedly shows Mohammed Deif.-/Getty Images
“The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] announces that on July 13th, 2024, IDF fighter jets struck in the area of Khan Younis, and following an intelligence assessment, it can be confirmed that Mohammed Deif was eliminated in the strike,” the military said.
Hamas neither confirmed nor denied the killing of Mr. Deif, but one official, Ezzat Rashaq, said any word on deaths of its leaders was its responsibility alone.
“Unless either of them [the Hamas political and military leadership] announces it, no news published in the media or by any other parties can be confirmed,” Mr. Rashaq said.
The Israeli announcement came as crowds gathered in the Iranian capital for the funeral procession of Hamas’ leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Iran and Hamas have blamed Mr. Haniyeh’s killing on Israel, which has neither denied nor confirmed a role in the assassination. It did however confirm it killed a senior commander of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement in Beirut on Tuesday.
Hezbollah and Hamas are backed by Iran. The latest killings have raised concern of a further escalation in hostilities in the Middle East, with threats of revenge against Israel, which has said it does not seek regional war but that it would respond forcefully to any attack.
Middle East on brink of war after Hamas leader assassinated in Iran
STRING OF DEATHS
On Thursday, Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Haniyeh’s death would not weaken the group’s fighters in Gaza.
“Despite the crime, Hamas remains strong and the confrontation in Gaza is continuing,” he said.
But his death was the latest in a series that has targeted the group’s leaders. Haniyeh’s deputy, Saleh al-Arouri, was killed in a drone strike in Beirut in January. In March, Israel said it had killed Marwan Issa, Mr. Deif’s deputy.
The United States confirmed Issa’s death in an Israeli operation. Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied his death.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Mr. Deif’s death was a milestone in Israel’s goal of destroying Hamas’ military wing, known as Al-Qassam Brigades.
“Hamas is disintegrating,” Mr. Gallant said on X. “Hamas terrorists may either surrender or they will be eliminated.”
One of Hamas’ most dominant figures, Mr. Deif rose through the group’s ranks over 30 years, developing its network of tunnels and its bomb-making expertise.
He has topped Israel’s most wanted list for decades, held personally responsible for the deaths of dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings. Scores of Palestinians were killed in the air strike that killed him, medics in Gaza say.
The other mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack, Yahaya Sinwar, is still believed to be directing military operations, possibly from bunkers beneath Gaza, while playing a leading role in indirect negotiations with Israel for a prisoner swap deal.
But now on the 300th day of warfare in Gaza, hopes for a hostage deal and ceasefire have dimmed.
The war erupted when militants led by Hamas stormed southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking around 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
The Gaza health ministry says more than 39,400 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in the subsequent Israeli offensive. The ministry does not distinguish between militants and civilians in its fatality reports.
Israel has lost 329 soldiers in Gaza and says around a third of the Palestinian dead are fighters.
On Thursday, the Israeli military said it struck against dozens of Hamas targets in Gaza, including fighters and infrastructure. At least 13 people had been killed in the Israeli bombardments across the enclave, Gaza medics said.
An Israeli missile that hit a vehicle at the entrance of Al-Maghazi district in central Gaza killed six people and five more were killed in a strike on a house in nearby Nusseirat, medics said, while a air strike in Gaza City killed two others.
East of Al-Maghazi, residents said tanks were firing as they tried to push deeper into the area.
Earlier, Israeli authorities released 15 Palestinians whom it had detained in the past months in Gaza. The men arrived for treatment at a Gaza hospital, complaining of abuse during their detention. Israel denies torture and is investigating suspected abuse of detainees.
As tensions escalate over the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran on July 31 and threaten to derail talks for a ceasefire in Gaza, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington played no part in the assassination, and that diplomats are still working on brokering a truce between Israel and Hamas.
Reuters
Iran, its proxies will meet to discuss retaliation against Israel, say sources
Top Iranian officials will meet the representatives of Iran’s regional allies from Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen on Thursday to discuss potential retaliation against Israel after the killing of the Hamas leader in Tehran, five sources told Reuters.
The region faces a risk of widened conflict between Israel, Iran and its proxies after Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination in Tehran on Wednesday and the killing of Hezbollah’s senior commander on Tuesday in an Israeli strike on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital Beirut.
Representatives of Iran’s Palestinian allies Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, as well as Yemen’s Tehran-backed Houthi movement, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iraqi resistance groups will attend the meeting in Tehran, said the sources, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.
“Iran and the resistance members will conduct a thorough assessment after the meeting in Tehran to find the best and most effective way to retaliate against the Zionist regime [Israel],” said a senior Iranian official, with direct knowledge of the meeting.
Another Iranian official said Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and senior members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards will attend.
“How Iran and the resistance front will respond is currently being reviewed … This will certainly happen and the Zionist regime [Israel] will undoubtedly regret it,” General Mohammad Baqeri, Iran’s armed forces chief of staff, told state TV on Thursday.
Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ top leader in exile who landed on Israel’s hit list after the militant group staged its surprise Oct. 7 attacks, was killed in an airstrike in the Iranian capital Theran early Wednesday (July 31).
The Associated Press