AFPIsrael’s military says it has confirmed that Hamas’s military chief Mohammed Deif was killed in an air strike in the Gaza Strip last month.
Deif was targeted in the strike on a compound in the Khan Younis area on 13 July. Hamas is yet to confirm his death.
Israel says Deif was one of the figures responsible for planning the 7 October attacks in southern Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.
On Wednesday, Hamas political leader Ismael Haniyeh was killed during a visit to Iran. Israel has not commented on his death directly.
Israel launched a massive military intevention in Gaza after the October attacks, saying it aimed to destroy Hamas.
At least 39,480 people have been killed so far, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the Strip.
In its statement on Thursday, the Israeli military said that “following an intelligence assessment, it can be confirmed that Mohammed Deif was eliminated” in the 13 July strike.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health authorities said at the time that the air strike had killed more than 90 people, but denied that Deif was among the dead.
Israel’s Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, said the death of Mohammed Deif is “a significant milestone” in the dismantling of Hamas.
“This operation reflects the fact that Hamas is disintegrating, and that Hamas terrorists may either surrender or they will be eliminated,” he added.
Who was Mohammed Deif?
Mohammed Deif was head of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of the Hamas movement.
For decades he was one of Israel’s most wanted men – and survived multiple assassination attempts, including one in 2002 when he lost an eye.
He was imprisoned by Israeli authorities in 1989. Upon his release, he became involved with the Brigades, with the aim of capturing Israeli soldiers.
Israel accused him of planning and supervising bus bombings which killed tens of Israelis in 1996, and of involvement in the capture and killing of three Israeli soldiers in the mid-1990s.
He is also known to have helped engineer the construction of tunnels that have allowed Hamas fighters to get inside Israel from Gaza.
