Israel’s military on Thursday confirmed the death of Mohammed Deif, the leader of Hamas’ military wing — the third high-profile Hamas or Iran-linked figure it says it has killed in recent weeks.
As head of the Qassam Brigades, Deif was believed to have been one of the masterminds of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack on southern Israel, which triggered the war in the Gaza Strip, now in its 300th day.
The announcement came as the funeral was held for Hamas’ political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, a day after he was killed in Iran.
As fears of an all-out war in the Middle East deepen, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said what it called an “intelligence assessment” had confirmed that Deif had been killed when fighter jets struck an area in the city of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip on July 13.
“Other terrorists were eliminated” alongside Deif, the statement added.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called Deif’s death “a significant milestone in the process of dismantling Hamas as a military and governing authority in Gaza, and in the achievement of the goals of this war,” in a post on X.
Hamas did not immediately comment on the Israeli announcement, which came as crowds gathered in Iran’s capital for the funeral procession of Haniyeh, whose assassination early Wednesday sent shockwaves across the Middle East and further afield.
Hamas and Iran promised vengeance for his death in an airstrike, which was carried out after Haniyeh had attended the inauguration ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who presided over Haniyeh’s funeral ceremony at Tehran University on Thursday, said in an earlier statement on X that his death had “caused our grief, but it has also prepared the ground for a severe punishment.”
He did not elaborate on how that punishment might be meted out, but after two of its top commanders were killed in an airstrike on a compound in Iran’s Syrian Embassy in April, Tehran responded by firing hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel.
