Israel confirms Hamas military chief Deif killed in July strike

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

******* confirms ****** military chief Deif ******* in July strike

*******’s army confirmed on Thursday that ****** military chief Mohammed Deif was ******* in an air strike last month in the southern Gaza Strip.

The announcement came a day after ****** and Iran said the ************ movement’s chief Ismail Haniyeh was ******* in Tehran. ******* has not commented on that report.

“Mohammed Deif, the ****** bin Laden of Gaza was eliminated” on July 13, Defence Minister

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

said.

This is a “significant milestone in the process of dismantling ******” in Gaza, Gallant added.

The army said fighter jets had struck Khan Yunis on July 13 and “following an intelligence assessment, it can be confirmed that Mohammed Deif was eliminated in the strike”.

He was ******* along with one of his top commanders, Rafa Salama, the military said.

Health authorities in ******-run Gaza said more than 90 people had been ******* in that strike but ****** has denied Deif was among them.

“Deif initiated, planned, and ********* the October 7th massacre,” the military said.

On that day the militant Islamist group attacked southern *******, resulting in the ****** of 1,197 people, according to an AFP tally based on official ******** figures.

Deif became head of ******’s armed wing, Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, in 2002.

He was among *******’s most wanted man for nearly three decades and on a US list of “international terrorists” since 2015.

“During the war, he commanded ******’s ********** activity in the Gaza Strip by issuing commands and instructions to senior members of ******’s military wing,” the military said.

Deif, whose real name is Mohammed Diab al-Masri, was born in the Khan Yunis ******** camp in 1965.

The word Deif means “visitor” or “guest” and some say he chose it because he was always on the move with ******** hunters on his trail, never spending more than one night in the same place.

– ‘Cat with nine lives’ –

In videos, Deif has appeared masked or shown in a silhouette, while rare photographs have circulated of one of *******’s most wanted men.

In January, ******* released a picture of Deif showing him with one eye missing, without specifying when it was taken.

His enemies dubbed him the “cat with nine lives” because of his many close calls with ******.

In 2014, ******* launched an air strike on Gaza, ******** Deif’s wife and a seven-month-old son.

It was Deif who announced the start of the ****** ******* — operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” — in an audio message on October 7.

Deif became involved in ****** in the 1980s when he was a student at the Gaza Islamic University.

He is said to have played a key role in the huge network of tunnels built beneath Gaza.

He was detained by ******* since the 1980s and spent about two years in a prison run by the ************ Authority. He was released or escaped, reports said.

In May, the chief prosecutor of the International ********* Court requested a warrant for his arrest — alongside with Yahya Sinwar, the chief of ****** in Gaza who is still being hunted by ******* — for war ******* and ******* against humanity.

****** political leader Haniyeh, who was ******* Wednesday in the Iranian capital, was also on that list.

The prosecutor has also sought warrants for *******’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Gallant.

During the October 7 *******, militants also seized 251 people, 111 are still captive in Gaza, including 39 the military says are *****.

*******’s military campaign since then has ******* 39,480 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the territory, which does not provide details of civilian and militant deaths.

bur-jd/hkb

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#******* #confirms #****** #military #chief #Deif #******* #July #strike

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up