Hamas’s top terrorist commander Mohammed Deif was reportedly hit in an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza.
Deif, regarded as the leading mastermind of the October 7 massacre, has been critically injured or killed in the strike, Israeli news reports suggest Saturday morning.
“A senior source noted that there was a high likelihood that Deif was killed in the strike, but that confirmation was, as of yet, forthcoming,” the Jerusalem Post reported quoting Israeli state media.
The targeted terror commander was hiding in the costal town on al-Mawasi, a few miles from the Hamas stronghold of Rafah, Israeli media reports say.
Hamas did not confirm the targeting of its top commander, but call on Palestinians to carry out terrorist attacks on Israeli in Jerusalem, as well as in the Judea and Samaria region.
“The Palestinian jihadist group Hamas on Sunday issued a statement calling on Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to carry out attacks against Israelis in response to the strike in Khan Younis,” the i24NEWS said in separate report.
Israeli news website YNET reported
An unusual Israeli airstrike Saturday noon in the area of displaced persons’ shelters in Al-Mawasi, southern Gaza Strip, reportedly targeted the supreme commander of Hamas’ military wing Mohammed Deif, who was hiding there.While Israeli intelligence and Air Force officials are investigating the results, they believe Deif was at least critically injured in the attack, though his death has not been confirmed. Another target in the assassination attempt was Rafah Salameh, the commander of the terrorist group’s Khan Younis Brigade.A senior security official assessed that “this was not their permanent location, but an operational opportunity that emerged in recent hours.”
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) released the details of the strike without naming Deif or other Hamas terror commanders targeted Saturday morning:
In a joint IDF and ISA activity based on precise intelligence, the IDF’s Southern Command and the IAF carried out a strike in an area where two senior Hamas terrorists and additional terrorists hid among civilians. The location of the strike was an open area surrounded by trees, several buildings, and sheds.
The Israeli government and military planners are currently reviewing the outcome of the strike. According to the Israeli TV channel i24NEWS, Israeli government sources “confirm[ed] Mohammed Deif was the target of Khan Yunis strike” and “defense minister Gallant [was] holding an assessment with IDF chiefs.”
On Saturday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a press conference that the secutiry agencies were “assessing the results of the strike” to determine if Deif and other top Hamas terrorists were killing in the strike.
The Times of Israel reported:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says it “is not absolutely certain” that Hamas terror chief Muhammad Deif and his deputy Rafa’a Salameh were eliminated in today’s IDF strike in Gaza.But “one way or another,” he promises, Israel will eliminate all of the Hamas leadership.Speaking at a press conference at the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu says he approved the strike once he was satisfied that there were no hostages in the area, and once he had received satisfactory information on the likely extent of the collateral damage and the nature of the munitions to be used.
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