Israel said Thursday it killed Hamas military chief Muhammad Deif, believed to be the main planner of the shock October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis in mid-July.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called Deif the “Osama bin Laden of Gaza,” referring to the mastermind of the 2001 al-Qaida terrorist attacks in the United States that killed nearly 3,000 people.
Gallant said the killing of Deif on July 13 “is 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.”
The Israeli military said in a statement that it concluded Deif was dead based on an intelligence assessment but did not offer further details. Israel had targeted him in an attack that killed at least 90 people, but Deif’s fate was unknown. Hamas has not confirmed or denied his death.
Gallant said the July operation “was conducted precisely and professionally” by the Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Security Agency. “This operation reflects the fact that Hamas is disintegrating, and that Hamas terrorists may either surrender or they will be eliminated,” Gallant said.
Deif had escaped several Israeli assassination attempts. Israel had bombed his home in 2014, killing his wife and infant son.
As the attack on Israel began last October, Deif released a recorded speech saying Hamas had launched the operation so “the enemy will understand that the time of their rampaging without accountability has ended.”
“Righteous fighters, this is your day to bury this criminal enemy,” he said of Israel in the broadcast on Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV. “It’s time has finished. Kill them wherever you find them. ... Remove this filth from your land and your sacred places. Fight and the angels fight with you.”
The death of Deif was the third significant anti-Israel militant killed in attacks in three countries.
On Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike on a Hezbollah building in Beirut killed Fouad Shukur, the Hezbollah commander Israel said was responsible for an airstrike on a football field in the Golan Heights last weekend that killed 12 children and teenagers.
Hours later, Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ political leader, was assassinated in Tehran.
Initially, Haniyeh was believed to have died in an airstrike on a building where he was staying after attending the inauguration of Iran’s new president. But The New York Times reported Thursday that several Middle Eastern and American officials told the newspaper that Haniyeh was killed by a remotely detonated explosive device that had been covertly smuggled two months ago into the Tehran guesthouse where he often stayed when visiting Tehran.
Israel has not publicly acknowledged killing Haniyeh, but the newspaper said Israeli intelligence officials briefed the U.S. and other Western governments on the operation in the immediate aftermath of the explosion.
Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah chief, said in a speech Thursday, “The Israelis are joyful; they have killed Sayyed Mohsen [Fouad Shukur] and Ismail Haniyeh in a matter of hours. Laugh now, but you will weep greatly.
“You do not know what red line you have crossed,” Nasrallah said. “The enemy must now expect anger and retribution. We have entered a new phase concerning all support fronts.”
Funerals were being held for both Shukur and Haniyeh on Thursday, with the Mideast on edge about how Iran and Hezbollah would respond to the killings.
Iran held a funeral for Haniyeh in Tehran, where Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, led prayers, an honor reserved for the highest-ranking figures. Khamenei ordered a direct strike on Israel in retaliation for the killing of Haniyeh, according to a New York Times report citing three Iranian officials on background.
Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, also attended the funeral and thousands of Iranians paraded in the streets.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not comment directly on the killing of Haniyeh on Thursday as he visited Mongolia but called for calm in the Middle East.
“Right now, the path that the region is on is toward more conflict, more violence, more suffering, more insecurity and it is crucial that we break the cycle and that starts with the cease-fire that we’ve been working on, which I believe is not only achievable, it has to be achieved,” Blinken said.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Wednesday that Haniyeh’s assassination and Israel’s killing of Shukur in Beirut “represent a dangerous escalation” of tensions in the region.
Guterres said in a statement that at a time when “all efforts” should be focused on reaching a cease-fire in the nearly 10-month Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and increasing humanitarian aid to famished Palestinians, instead “what we are seeing are efforts to undermine these goals.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday the Jewish state "will exact a heavy price from any aggression against us on any front" but did not mention the assassination of Haniyeh.
Haniyeh’s death comes nearly 10 months after Iran-backed Hamas launched the terror attack on southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages.
Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 39,400 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry, while Israel says the death toll includes thousands of Hamas fighters it has killed.
Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been trying for months to negotiate a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, but that process faced serious questions after Haniyeh’s killing.
Israeli forces continued their Gaza campaign Thursday with airstrikes in Khan Younis and ground operations in Rafah and central Gaza, the military said.
VOA Persian contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.