IDF chief says Hamas is ‘trying to hide’ outcome of strike on Muhammed Deif

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says it is still too early to determine whether Muhammed Deif, the chief of Hamas’s military wing, was killed in yesterday’s airstrike in southern Gaza, but that the terror group is attempting to hide the results of the attack.

“We are not stopping, we are not stopping fighting. We are operating in the entire Gaza Strip with different fighting methods,” he says at a press conference at the Palmachim Airbase.

“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. Alongside him, Rafa’a Salameh, the commander of the Khan Younis Brigade, and with them other terrorists,” Halevi says.

“It is still too early to summarize the results of the attack, which Hamas is trying to hide,” he says. “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 says. “We found him, we will also find the next ones in line.”

“These assassinations are part of the continuous and changing military pressure that the IDF exerts in all parts of the Gaza Strip. Every day, there are many Hamas deaths… This is important for the systematic dismantling of the Hamas terror organization. It is also very important for the creation of conditions for an agreement for the return of the hostages,” Halevi adds.