An image taken in Rafah shows smoke rising over Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip during Israeli bombardment on March 4, 2024, amid ongoing fighting between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Said Khatib | Afp | Getty Images
The Israeli military announced on Thursday that it had killed the head of Hamas's military wing, Mohammed Deif, in an airstrike in July.
“We can now confirm: Mohammed Deif has been eliminated,” the Israel Defense Forces posted on their official X-account.
The military said it had spent weeks trying to confirm whether Deif, the target of the attack in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, was killed in the blast, while Hamas denied his death. Hamas did not immediately comment on the IDF's Thursday announcement when contacted by CNBC.
Israel says Deif and Yahya Sinwar, the top Hamas leader in Gaza, were the main planners of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people and took another 253 hostage. About 116 of those prisoners have since been released.
The October attack sparked the 10-month war between Israel and Hamas and the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza enclave, which local authorities say has already killed more than 39,000 people.
The Israeli military made the announcement just a day after Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an attack on Tehran. Hamas and Iran claim the attack was carried out by Israel, while the Jewish state has declined to comment on Haniyeh's death.
The Israeli military said the attack that killed Deif took place on July 13 and hit a compound on the outskirts of Khan Younis, near a tent camp for displaced Palestinians. More than 90 other people were killed in the attack, many of them living in the tents, Gaza health authorities said at the time.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called Deif the “Osama Bin Laden of Gaza” in a post on social media platform X on Thursday and said his death marked “a significant milestone in the process of defeating Hamas as a military and government power in Gaza and in achieving the goals of this war.”
Gallant added: “Israel's defense apparatus will pursue Hamas terrorists – both the planners and perpetrators of the July 10 massacre. We will not rest until this mission is accomplished.”
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