Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Thursday that the July 13 strike in Khan Younis killed Mohammed Deif, the commander of the terrorist group Hamas’ military wing, who was second only to Yahya Sinwar in the Gaza Strip.
“Deif initiated, planned, and executed the October 7th Massacre, in which 1,200 people were killed in southern Israel and 251 hostages abducted into the Gaza Strip,” Israel National News noted, adding, “Over the years, Deif directed, planned, and carried out numerous terrorist attacks against the State of Israel. Deif operated side-by-side with Yahya Sinwar, and during the war, he commanded Hamas’ terrorist activity in the Gaza Strip by issuing commands and instructions to senior members of Hamas’ Military Wing.”
The strike also killed Rafa’a Salameh, the Commander of Hamas’ Khan Yunis Brigade, as well as other members of the terrorist organization.
“[T]he air force had kept a series of five different pairs of aircraft and drones rotating through the role of hovering and passing by the residence where Deif was expected to visit Salame, such that the moment the war cabinet approved an operation, the air force would be able to open fire in practically no time at all,” The Jerusalem Post reported.
Although Deif had remained a shadowy figure for years, the morning of the October 7 attack, Hamas released a recording of him declaring the “Al Aqsa Flood” operation. “Kill, burn, destroy and block the roads. Make them understand that the Al Aqsa Flood is more powerful than they think and believe,” he said.
“Deif has been involved in Hamas’s operations for more than 20 years, plotting suicide bombings inside Israel, kidnapping soldiers, firing rockets and helping plan the tunnels used to launch attacks,” The Times of Israel reported in 2014, adding, “The Israelis see him as ‘the brains’ behind the campaign of suicide bombings that targeted buses and public places in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem until 2006.”
