Mohammed Deif was a top Hamas leader and is believed to have played a key role in directing the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.
The Israeli military has said it killed Mohammed Deif, a commander of the Hamas terrorist group, in a July 13 air strike in the Khan Yunis area of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli military and intelligence officials had suspected Deif was killed in the strike but had not previously been able to corroborate this belief. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Aug. 1 that new intelligence assessments had confirmed its belief that Deif was killed in the strike.
Deif joined Hamas—which is designated a terrorist group by the United States and Israel—in about 1987. Israeli authorities arrested Deif in 1989, and he spent more than a year in Israeli custody before being released in a prisoner exchange.
The Israeli military assessed that Deif continued to rise through the Hamas ranks, eventually becoming a group leader. Israeli authorities concluded that Deif played a key leadership role in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks across southern Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed, thousands more were injured, and about 250 were abducted.
The IDF said Israel’s Aman military intelligence agency and the Shin Bet national security agency had determined that Deif and another Hamas commander, Rafe Salama, were staying at a compound in Khan Yunis when Israeli aircraft targeted it on July 13. The IDF did not elaborate further on its new intelligence assessment, nor did it specify whether it had located Deif’s remains in a battle damage assessment.
The Epoch Times reached out to the IDF for further comment about its latest intelligence assessments but did not receive a response by publication time.
Hamas had previously denied that Deif was killed in the July 13 strike and has yet to comment publicly on the latest Israeli claims.
Deif had survived previous attempts on his life, including multiple attempts during the 2021 Israel–Hamas conflict. Israeli aircraft killed Deif’s wife, 3-year-old daughter, and infant son in a 2014 strike targeting their family home. Hamas reported that Deif was out of the house during the strike.
By Ryan Morgan
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