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Aug. 1 (UPI) -- The Israeli military confirmed Thursday that it killed Hamas' military leader, Mohammed Deif, whom it said was responsible for planning and carrying out the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, in a targeted airstrike on Khan Younis in southern Gaza last month. In a statement posted on X, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said the military had received intelligence in the past few hours that Deif was "eliminated" in the July 13 joint IDF-Shin Bet operation.
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The IDF confirmed Rafe Salama, the commander of Hamas' Khan Younis Brigade and many other militants, had been killed a day after Israeli warplanes struck a compound where, according to "accurate intelligence from Aman [military intelligence] and Shin Bet," Deif and Salama were in hiding.
The announcement followed Tuesday's strike on Beirut that killed Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in retaliation for a rocket attack that killed 12 children in Israel's Golan Heights and a second on Wednesday that killed Hamas' political chief and lead peace negotiator Ismail Haniyeh while on a visit to Tehran.
Israel said it carried out the airstrike targeting Shukr but has not claimed responsibility for the rocket strike in Tehran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address Wednesday night that Israel had delivered "crushing blows" to Iran's proxies over the past few days, including Hamas and Hezbollah -- but was careful not to directly refer to Haniyeh.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant hailed Deif's killing, dubbing him the "Bin Laden of Gaza" as a major milestone in Israel's war against Hamas.
"The killing of the master murderer Muhammad Deif is a big step on the way to eradicating Hamas as a military and governmental organization, and to achieving the goals of the war we set," he wrote in a post on X accompanied by a photo of him appearing to cross Deif's name off a list of Israel's most wanted.
"The results of the operation make it clear that Hamas is an organization in disintegration, and that the terrorists must choose between surrender and death."
Gallant pledged the military, security and intelligence apparatus of the Israeli state would "pursue the Hamas terrorists -- from the planners of the massacre to the perpetrators -- and will not rest until the mission is completed."
The raid on the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis that killed Deif and Salama also killed 71 civilians and injured 300, according to Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry, prompting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to warn Israeli government officials that the civilian death toll in Gaza remained "unacceptably high."
The IDF had earlier designated al-Mawasi a safe zone for civilians but has since issued orders for civilians to evacuate parts of the area alleging militants and their leaders were using it to hide.
Thought to be either 58 or 59 years old Deif was born Mohammad Diab Ibrahim al-Masriin in the Khan Younis refugee camp, set up in Gaza for Palestinians displaced by the establishment of Israel as a state.
He earned the El Deif moniker, "The Guest," from his MO of never sleeping in the same place two nights in a row to avoid falling victim to Israeli security forces.
"In recent years, Deif has planned and carried out many terrorist plots against the State of Israel," said the IDF's Hagari.
"Deif worked closely with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, and during the war he managed the terrorist activities of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, issuing orders and instructions to the senior military wing of the organization."
Hagari said Deif joined Hamas during the first 1987-1993 Palestinian intifada, planning and directing numerous attacks, including suicide attacks inside Israel, and helping to strengthen the group in Judea and Samaria in the West Bank.
He was also on the terrorist blacklists of the United States and European Union.
