JERUSALEM: Israel said it had confirmed that Mohammed Deif, Hamas' second in command, was killed in a strike in Gaza on July 13.
The military had previously said it was all but certain he had died in its attack in the city of Khan Younis.
Israel targeted Deif in a July 13 strike that hit a compound on the outskirts of the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, but there had been no immediate confirmation Deif was killed. More than 90 other people, including displaced civilians in nearby tents, were killed in the strike, Gaza health officials said at the time.
“The IDF (Israeli army) announces that on July 13th, 2024, IDF fighter jets struck in the area of Khan Younis, and following an intelligence assessment, it can be confirmed that Mohammed Deif was eliminated in the strike,” a military statement said.
One of the founders of Hamas’ military wing, Ezzedine Al Qassam Brigades, in the 1990s, Deif led the unit for decades.
Deif is believed to have been one of the masterminds of Hamas’ October7 attack on southern Israel, which triggered the Gaza war.
“Deif initiated, planned, and executed the October 7th massacre,” the military said of the Hamas attack on southern Israel that resulted in the death of 1,197 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Health authorities in Hamas-run Gaza said at the time of the July 13 strike that it killed more than 90 people but Hamas denied Deif was among them.
The suspected 2,000-pound bomb (900 kilogrammes) around the house where Deif was said to have taken refuge with one of his deputies had left a giant crater.
Deif was on US list of 'international terrorists'
The head of the Ezzedine Al Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, Deif had been among Israel’s most wanted man for nearly three decades and on a US list of “international terrorists” since 2015.
The military said Deif had over the years carried out several attacks against Israel.
Deif operated along with Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas in Gaza, the military said.
“During the war, he commanded Hamas’s terrorist activity in the Gaza Strip by issuing commands and instructions to senior members of Hamas’s military wing,” it added.
During the Hamas attack militants also seized 251 people, 111 are still held captive in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign since then has killed 39,480 people, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which does not provide details of civilian and militant deaths.
The announcement comes a day after Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed after he and other leaders of Iranian-backed militant groups had attended the inauguration of Iran’s new president.
