The Israeli Security Agency (ISA) and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed on August 1 that a July 13 airstrike had successfully killed Hamas’ military commander, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, also known as Muhammed Deif. The strike marks the highest-ranking Hamas official in the Gaza Strip to be eliminated by Israeli forces since the onset of the war.
“The IDF announces that on July 13th, 2024, IDF fighter jets struck in the area of Khan Yunis, and following an intelligence assessment, it can be confirmed that Mohammed Deif was eliminated in the strike. Mohammed Deif was the Commander of Hamas’ Military Wing, and second in command of the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip. Deif initiated, planned, and executed the October 7th Massacre, in which 1,200 people were killed in southern Israel and 251 hostages abducted into the Gaza Strip,” said the IDF.
Along with Deif, Israel eliminated Khan Yunis brigade commander Rafa’a Salameh.
“Following precise IDF and ISA intelligence, IAF fighter jets conducted a precise, targeted strike on a compound in which Mohammed Deif and Rafa’a Salameh, the Commander of Hamas’ Khan Yunis Brigade, were located,” the IDF stated.
A veteran leader of Hamas, Deif became involved with the Islamist group in 1987 during the First Intifada. Since 1995, he had been a top target on Israel’s most-wanted terrorist list due to his role in planning and executing numerous terrorist attacks, including bus bombings in the 1990s and early 2000s. Referred to by one associate as “a man in the shadows,” Deif has survived seven assassination attempts by Israel over the past 25 years.
In a video statement released following the atrocities on October 7, 2023, Deif referred to the attack as the “Al-Aqsa Flood,” declaring, “Today the rage of Al-Aqsa, the rage of our people and nation is exploding. Our mujahideen [fighters], today is your day to make this criminal understand that his time has ended.”
Since the beginning of the war, Hamas has maintained a policy of not confirming the deaths of fighters and commanders in the Gaza Strip, with only a few exceptions. The group has neither claimed nor denied that Israel killed Deif. Furthermore, Hamas has yet to acknowledge the killing of senior Hamas member Marwan Issa, who the IDF says was eliminated in an airstrike on March 10.
In the past six months, Hamas has lost three of its senior leaders, both in the Gaza Strip and abroad: Ismail Haniyeh, Muhammed Deif, and Marwan Issa. Meanwhile, the group’s leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, remains in hiding.
