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.
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.
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.
The IDF’s assessment that it killed Deif in the July 13 strike came a day after Hamas announced that its political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in a strike while visiting Iran. No one has publicly claimed responsibility for Haniyeh’s death, but Hamas has blamed Israel.
Israeli aircraft conducted another strike in Beirut, Lebanon, on July 30, targeting Fuad Shukr, a senior commander within Hezbollah, another U.S.- and Israeli-designated terrorist group. Hezbollah has since confirmed Shukr’s death.
Hezbollah first began striking at northern Israel in the hours after the Oct. 7 attacks. Israeli forces have returned fire, and the two sides have been trading blows in cross-border fighting in the months since.
In a televised address on the evening of July 31, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would “exact a heavy price for any act of aggression against [Israel] on any front.”
Iranian leaders have signaled that they would retaliate for the strike that killed Haniyeh on their soil. Shukr’s death could also fuel a wider conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which has been intensifying for nearly 10 months.
“This operation reflects the fact that Hamas is disintegrating, and that Hamas terrorists may either surrender or they will be eliminated,” Gallant said.
