Muhammad Deif, the commander of Hamas’s military wing, and Rafa’a Salameh, the commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade, were the target of the IDF’s airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip this morning, the IDF confirms.
The pair were low building between the al-Mawasi area and Khan Younis, in a civilian environment, but not in a tent camp for displaced Palestinians.
The building was in a fenced-off Hamas compound. Several dozen more Hamas operatives were also in the area of the site when it was targeted, including guards, military sources say.
The al-Mawasi and western Khan Younis areas are part of the Israeli-designated humanitarian zone, but the IDF says the strike was accurate and only targeted the Hamas site.
According to the IDF’s assessments, no Israeli hostages were held at the site when the strike was carried out.
The military is still waiting for intelligence to confirm that Deif and Salameh were killed in the strike.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says at least 71 were killed and 289 were wounded in the strike. It is unclear how many among them are civilians, though according to the IDF, most of the casualties were likely Hamas operatives.
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