On Thursday, August 1, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif has been “eliminated.” Mohammed Deif was also thought to have planned the attack on southern Israel on October 7, when hundreds of Hamas militants stormed into neighboring territory and killed and kidnapped people.
Israel had sought Mohammed Deif for decades, and he had a long and secretive career within the Palestinian organization. The IDF said, “We can now confirm: Mohammed Deif was eliminated” in a statement.
More than nine months after the attack on October 7 that sparked Israel’s devastating campaign in Gaza, 58-year-old Mohammed Deif was killed in an Israeli airstrike on July 13, according to reports.
This was a significant setback for the militant Islamist group. Mohammed Deif referred to the attack on October 7 as the “Al-Aqsa Flood” in an audio tape broadcast, implying that it was retaliation for Israeli raids on Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque. “Today the fury of Al-Aqsa, the fury of our kin and country is detonating.
According to the recording, Mohammed Deif could be heard saying, “Our mujahedeen, today is your day to make this criminal understand that his time has ended.” Mohammed Deif, having gotten away from seven earlier Israeli death endeavors, remembering one for 2021, was believed to arrange military tasks from Gaza’s passages and back streets since October 7, with his senior associates.
Hamas sources claim that Mohammed Deif had been plotting the attack on October 7 since May 2021, following a raid on Islam’s third holiest site. “All this fuelled and ignited the anger,” a source told Reuters. “It was triggered by scenes and footage of Israel storming Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan, beating worshippers, attacking them, and dragging elderly and young men out of the mosque.”
The death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran was confirmed by Iran’s Islamic Paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) just a day ago, on July 31. He was killed just hours after attending the Iranian president’s inauguration, where Indian minister Nitin Gadkari also attended.
