The Israeli military confirmed Thursday that the head of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, was killed in an airstrike in Gaza in July. The announcement comes a day after an apparent Israeli strike in the Iranian capital killed Hamas’ top political leader.
This week’s rapid-fire events have forced American, Egyptian and Qatari mediators to scramble to salvage talks on a ceasefire deal in Gaza. At the same time, international diplomats were trying to prevent an escalation into an all-out regional war following the assassination in Tehran of Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh, Israel’s killing of a senior Hezbollah commander in a strike in Beirut and, now, Israel’s announcement of Deif’s death.
There was no immediate comment on the Israeli claim from Hamas, which had previously said Deif survived the July attack in Gaza. A member of Hamas’s political bureau, Izzat al-Risheq, said in a statement Thursday that confirming or denying his death was the responsibility of the armed wing, known as the Izzedin al-Qassam Brigades, which has so far remained silent.
The elimination of Haniyeh and Deif — two of Hamas’s most senior figures — is a victory for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, but also places him at a crossroads.
This potentially offers Hamas a political outlet to end the conflict, allowing him to backtrack on his lofty promises of “total victory” while showing Israelis that Hamas’s military capabilities have suffered a debilitating blow.
It could also lead to a hardening of Israel’s position in ceasefire negotiations, as Israeli officials insist that strikes against Hamas will force it to concede. Hamas could also dig in its heels in the negotiations, or walk away from them altogether.
Israel believes that Deif, the head of Hamas’s army, and Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s top leader in Gaza, were the main architects of the Oct. 7 attack that killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel and sparked the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Sinwar is believed to still be in hiding in Gaza.
On July 13, Israel struck Deif in a compound outside the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. The army then said another Hamas commander, Rafa Salama, had been killed. More than 90 people, including displaced civilians in nearby tents, were killed in the attack, Gaza health officials said at the time.
In a statement released Thursday, the Israeli military said that “following an intelligence assessment, it can be confirmed that Mohammed Deif was killed in the attack.”
The email you need to get the top stories of the day from Canada and around the world.
Receive daily national news
Receive the day’s top stories, including political, economic and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
In its 10-month campaign of bombings and offensives in Gaza, Israel has killed some 39,480 Palestinians and wounded more than 91,100, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, whose tally does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. More than 80 percent of the population of 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes, the vast majority crammed into tent camps in the southwestern corner of the territory with limited food and water.
So far, Netanyahu has said he is determined to continue the war until Hamas is destroyed. Partners in the far-right nationalist coalition, on whom he relies to stay in power, have threatened to oust the government if he stops the conflict.
Following the announcement on Deif, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that “the defeat of Hamas is closer than ever.” He added that the army would continue “to eliminate thousands of other terrorists until our security is restored and we bring the hostages home.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the strike that killed Deif was a “significant milestone” on the path to achieving the war’s goals. “The results of this operation reflect that Hamas is a disintegrating organization,” he wrote in X.
Deif was one of the founders of Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, in the 1990s. He led the unit for decades through campaigns of suicide bombings against Israeli civilians, rocket barrages into Israel and repeated Israeli attacks on Gaza since Hamas seized power there in 2007.
He remained a mysterious and clandestine figure in Gaza. He never appeared in public, was rarely photographed and was only occasionally heard in audio statements. He survived a series of assassination attempts by Israel.
Haniyeh’s killing, in particular, derailed months of efforts to reach an agreement on a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages. Haniyeh had been one of the lead negotiators in those talks.
Qatari and Egyptian officials had tense exchanges with their U.S. counterparts over the killing, said an Egyptian official with direct knowledge of the talks, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal discussions.
Although the United States has been pressuring Egyptian and Qatari mediators to get Hamas to reach a deal, the Americans cannot “pressure the other side, Israel, to… refrain from provocative acts,” the Egyptian official said, calling the killing “reckless.”
Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani expressed his frustration in a social media post: “Can mediation succeed when one side kills the other side’s negotiator?”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that the United States had no advance knowledge of the attack in Tehran that killed Haniyeh.
The Egyptian official said a deal was unlikely in the near future as Hamas must now name Haniyeh’s replacement. Mediators had been waiting for Hamas’ response on the latest version of the deal. Instead, after Haniyeh’s funeral, scheduled for Friday, he said they would be in touch with Hamas officials to explore next steps.
Following Haniyeh’s assassination, Iran has vowed revenge against Israel, and the killing of Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur in Beirut could also bring retaliation, raising fears of a wider spiral of escalation.
The Egyptian official now said the priority was to prevent a full-scale war.
Magdy reported from Cairo.
