Israel says Khan Younis Brigade chief killed in Gaza strike; Deif’s fate unconfirmed
Rafa’a Salameh was a mastermind of Oct. 7 massacre; Shin Bet chief says strike enabled by ‘surgical intelligence’; Gallant vows pursuit of Hamas terrorists ‘will go on for years’
The IDF and Shin Bet on Sunday confirmed that Rafa’a Salameh, the commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade, was killed in an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday.
They provided no update as to the fate of Muhammad Deif, the elusive commander of Hamas’s military wing, who was targeted in the same strike. IDF chief Herzi Halevi said Sunday evening that Hamas, which claims Deif survived, was “trying to hide” the results of the attack.
The two senior Hamas members were targeted while in a low building between the areas of al-Mawasi and Khan Younis. Hamas has since claimed that the strike, carried out using large munitions, killed more than 90 people. Military sources have said dozens of Hamas gunmen were in the targeted area.
The killing of Salameh dealt a “significant blow to the military capabilities of Hamas,” the IDF said in a joint statement with the Shin Bet, adding that he had been one of Deif’s “closest associates,” and “one of the masterminds of the October 7 massacre.”
The IDF has yet to definitively confirm whether the strike that killed Salameh was also successful in taking out Deif, who has survived at least seven previous assassination attempts. According to Ynet, military intelligence is still working to determine whether his body is among dozens that were taken to the Deir al-Balah hospital after the strike.
Salameh, according to the IDF, joined Hamas in the early 1990s, and climbed the ranks to become the head of the Khan Younis Brigade’s al-Qarara Battalion, serving directly under the command of Mohammad Sinwar, the brother of Hamas’s leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar.
During his time as commander of the al-Qarara Battalion, Salameh “played a significant role” in the 2006 abduction of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, the IDF said, and in 2014, he was in command of Hamas’s “combat support and defensive plans.”
In 2016, Salameh replaced Sinwar as the head of the Khan Younis Brigade, and, in addition to overseeing numerous rocket attacks launched on Israel from the south Gaza area, he was in command of two attack tunnels that were struck during May 2021’s Operation Guardians of the Wall, the military said.
Hamas has continued to deny that Deif was harmed in Saturday’s strike. Speaking to AFP on Sunday, a top Hamas official insisted that he was “fine,” and still in command of the terror group’s fighters.
“Commander Mohammed Deif is well and directly overseeing” the operations of the Hamas military wing, the official said. His statement echoed that of Hamas deputy leader Khalil Al-Hayya, who told Al-Jazeera TV on Saturday night that not only was Deif unharmed, but that he was “mocking [Israel’s] lies” regarding his wellbeing.
In response, at a press conference at the Palmachim Airbase on Sunday evening, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi accused the terror group of “trying to hide” the outcome of the strike.
“Yesterday, in a joint operation by the IDF and the Shin Bet, we attacked a compound in Khan Younis where Muhammed Deif, the commander of the military wing of Hamas, was hiding. The man who planned and gave the order for the attack on October 7,” Halevi said.
“It is still too early to summarize the results of the attack, which Hamas is trying to hide,” he continued. “We are determined to continue to pursue senior Hamas officials, those who planned and carried out the October 7 massacre, and dedicated their lives to the murder of innocents.
“Muhammed was afraid to die, so he hid in a way that even harmed his ability to command. He hid and sacrificed with him his men and civilians who were around… a few were hurt, Halevi said, and vowed that just as Israel “found him, we will also find the next ones in line.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also acknowledged during a rare press conference on Saturday night that Israel was still lacking “absolute certainty” that Deif was killed, but promised that “one way or another, we will get to the entire Hamas leadership.”
“Muhammed Deif is the arch-murderer, Hamas’s chief of staff, number two in the chain of command,” the premier said. “His hands are dripping in the blood of many Israelis.”
Deif was one of the chief architects of the October 7 massacre in southern Israel, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists broke through the border and killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, while taking 251 hostages. He has topped Israel’s most-wanted list since 1995 for his involvement in the planning and execution of a large number of terror attacks, including many bus bombings in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Saturday’s strike was Israel’s eighth attempt to eliminate the shadowy terrorist leader, who survived multiple attempts on his life between 2001 and 2021. While he was seriously injured in two of them, his ability to frustrate Israel’s formidable security apparatuses for so long has made him something of a mythical figure for Palestinians as well as Israelis.
Following confirmation of Salameh’s death, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant thanked the IDF fighter pilots involved in the strike.
“Your actions are precise, of high quality and the results are what allow us to continue to do things,” he told the pilots in a meeting at the Nevatim air base. “They also allow us freedom of action to achieve our goals.”
Those goals include the returning of the hostages, he said, “and your actions, including those yesterday, give us the freedom of flexibility to achieve this.”
Today, he said, Hamas does not have the capability to rearm itself, to organize itself, or to treat its wounded.
He added that Hamas’s capabilities are being eroded every day, but “the pursuit of Hamas terrorists will continue for many years — from the most senior, as you acted against yesterday, to those terrorists in the field,” including all those who took part in the October 7 massacre.
Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar also addressed the strike while meeting with troops in southern Gaza’s Rafah, lauding it as the result of “surgical intelligence” collected in recent months.
Over the last week, Israel has killed 25 terrorists who participated in the October 7 onslaught, he told troops, highlighting the achievement as “one of the goals we have set for ourselves” in the war against Hamas.
“We owe it to the residents of the [Gaza border communities],” he said during his visit to the southern part of the Palestinian enclave.
“The attack in Khan Younis is the result of surgical intelligence, which begins with the effort you have been making here in recent months,” he added.
During his visit, Bar held an assessment with the chief of the Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, and the commander of the 162nd Division, Brig. Gen. Itzik Cohen, the Shin Bet said.
