Israel Claims Hamas Military Leader Mohammed Deif Killed In Airstrike
HuffPost
Mohammed Deif, Hamas’ shadowy longtime military leader and one of the alleged masterminds of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, is said to be dead.
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Mohammed Deif, Hamas’ longtime shadowy military leader and one of the alleged masterminds of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza, is said to be dead following an Israeli airstrike last month.
The Israeli military said it killed Deif in a massive strike in southern Gaza on July 13, citing “an intelligence assessment.” There was no immediate comment from Hamas officials on Israel’s claim.
One of the founders of Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, in the 1990s, Deif led the unit for decades. Under his command, it carried out dozens of suicide bombings against Israelis on buses and at cafes and built up a formidable arsenal of rockets that could strike deep into Israel and often did.
He gained mythical status among Palestinians, surviving a string of Israeli assassination attempts and not showing his face in public for decades. For years, he topped Israel’s most-wanted list.
Israel says Deif and Hamas’ political leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, were the chief architects of the Oct. 7 attack. Together they succeeded in foiling Israel’s vaunted border defenses, surprising the region’s most powerful military and unleashing an unprecedented attack that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took roughly 250 others hostage into Gaza. The attack triggered the Israel-Hamas war that has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians.
