The leader of Hamas' al-Qassam Brigades, Mohammed Deif, was killed by an Israeli-targeted airstrike in Gaza in July, the IDF confirmed on Thursday.
Israel targeted the Palestinian militant on 13 July after a strike hit a compound on the outskirts of the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis — but for weeks, the military said it was working to determine if he died in the blast.
In a statement on Thursday, the Israeli military said that “following an intelligence assessment, it can be confirmed that Mohammed Deif was eliminated in the strike.”
Hamas previously denied he was killed and has not commented on the announcement.
At the time, Gaza health officials reported that more than 90 other people, including displaced civilians in nearby tents, were killed in the same strike.
The Israeli confirmation came a day after an apparent Israeli airstrike in Tehran killed Hamas' top political leader, Ismail Haniyeh.
Israel has not confirmed or denied being behind the attack, but Iran has vowed retaliation. Along with Deif and Haniyeh, Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas' top leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, but he has so far remained elusive.
Israel says Sinwar and Deif were the masterminds of the 7 October attack in which Hamas-led militants rampaged in southern Israeli communities, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 250 others hostage.
Deif was one of the founders of Hamas' military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, in the 1990s and led the unit for decades.
Under his command, it carried out dozens of suicide bombings against Israelis on buses and at cafes and built up a formidable arsenal of rockets that could strike deep into Israel and often did.
The unit is listed as a terrorist organisation by the EU, the UK, Egypt, Australia and New Zealand.
