Rhino: Agencies – The Israeli army confirmed on Thursday that Mohammed al-Deif, commander of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), was killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza last month.
The announcement came a day after the assassination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital Tehran.
Al-Deif is believed to have been one of the masterminds of the 7 October Hamas attack on southern Israel that sparked the Gaza war.
The Israeli army announced in a statement on Thursday that on 13 July 2024, army fighter jets bombed the Khan Younis area, and after an intelligence assessment, it can be confirmed that Muhammad al-Deif was eliminated in the strike.
Hamas did not deny or confirm al-Deif’s death, but Ezzat al-Rishq, a member of the movement’s political bureau, said that confirming or denying the martyrdom of any of the Qassam leaders is the business of the Qassam Brigades and the movement’s leadership.
Iran and Hamas have accused Israel of assassinating Haniyeh, but Israel has neither denied nor confirmed responsibility for the assassination. However, it has confirmed that it killed a senior leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah group in Beirut on Tuesday.