Netanyahu says ‘not absolutely certain’ Deif killed, ‘cracks’ appearing in Hamas

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday evening that he was not yet “absolutely certain” as to whether Hamas’s most senior military commander Muhammad Deif had been killed in an airstrike earlier in the day, but insisted that Israel was winning the war and that “cracks” and “weakness” were now evident within the Palestinian terror group as a result of Israel’s military campaign against it.

Speaking at a press conference at the Israel Defense Forces’ headquarters in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu also took the opportunity to laud his handling of the war and the hostage negotiations, claiming the attack on Deif and other strikes were only possible due to his refusal to end the campaign until all the war aims were achieved.

He also contended that his insistence on attacking the southern Gazan city of Rafah had brought about the necessary pressure on Hamas to force it to begin negotiating seriously for a new hostage release deal.

There is still “a way to go” to obtain victory, Netanyahu concluded, but said it was possible with “unity, determination and faith in the justice of our cause.” Earlier this year, the prime minister said on several occasions that Israel was just “a step away” from victory.

Unlike in several similar press conferences held since October 7, Netanyahu addressed the media without Defense Minister Yoav Gallant or any other cabinet minister alongside him.

He made his remarks after Deif, together with his deputy Rafa’a Salameh, were targeted in an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday morning as they were reportedly present in an above-ground building between the al-Mawasi designated humanitarian zone and the city of Khan Younis.

Deif has been a long-term target for Israel due to his involvement in innumerable terror attacks against Israelis, as well as reportedly being the architect of the October 7 onslaught, and has survived numerous Israeli assassination attempts.

“It is still not absolutely certain if the two were taken out, but I want to promise you that one way or another we will get to the entire Hamas leadership,” said Netanyahu at the beginning of the press conference, referring to Deif and Salameh.

“Muhammed Deif is the arch-murderer, Hamas’s chief of staff, number two in the chain of command. Deif is the architect and leader of the massacre on October 7, and of many other terror attacks. His hands are dripping in the blood of many Israelis.”

The prime minister said he approved the strike only once he was satisfied that there were no hostages in the area, and once he had received satisfactory information on the likely extent of collateral damage and the nature of the munitions to be used in the strike.

Khalil Al-Hayya, the deputy leader of Hamas, denied Deif was dead. “We say to [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu that Muhammad Deif is listening to you right now and mocking your lies,” Al-Hayya told Al Jazeera on Saturday evening.

Netanyahu quickly segued from the strike, however, to make numerous arguments justifying his management of the war and hostage negotiations, strongly rejecting widespread claims that he had been hindering efforts to arrive at a hostage release deal.

He claimed the attack on Deif, and the ongoing prosecution of the campaign against Hamas in general, was due to Israel having “rejected pressure at home and abroad to finish the war before achieving all its aims.”

As a result, he contended, Israel has in recent weeks seen “clear cracks in Hamas, under the powerful blows we are dealing it,” and “we are seeing changes, we are seeing weakness.”

Netanyahu said that “Hamas commanders are hiding underground, they are cut off from their forces on the ground,” and added that IDF forces were “advancing all across Gaza.”

The war will end, he said, “only when we obtain all the goals of the war, and not one moment before.” He went on to repeat his war goals: the elimination of Hamas’s governance and military capabilities; the return of all the hostages; ensuring that Gaza cannot threaten Israel anymore; and the return of Israeli citizens in the north and south to their homes in safety.

“That is total victory, that is the victory that will restore Israeli deterrence and send the message to all our enemies that the price for harming us is intolerable for them.”

Netanyahu then turned specifically to criticism of how he has handled hostage negotiations, saying the abductees were “at the top of our thoughts at all times and in every decision we make.” He maintained that only the combined weight of military pressure and a “determined diplomatic stance” would secure the release of the remaining 120 hostages.

He asserted that “despite endless briefings from anonymous sources,” he had not deviated from the hostage release outline he said had been welcomed by US President Joe Biden, and that at the same time Hamas had sought 29 changes to the deal, which he said he had totally rejected.

However, the full text of the Israeli proposal submitted on May 27, obtained by The Times of Israel, contradicts Netanyahu’s claim that he has not since sought changes.

Netanyahu also repeated the four principles he has said he is insisting on within the deal, including Israel’s right to continue the war until all its goals are achieved; keeping control of the Rafah Border Crossing and the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egpyt border to stop weapons smuggling to Hamas; stopping the return of armed terrorists to northern Gaza; and securing the release of as many living hostages as possible in the first stage of a hostage release deal.

“I turn to you, families of the dear hostages: I know how much you are suffering from uncertainty but I would like to tell you one thing that is certain: We will not give up on anyone and we will do everything to return them all,” he said. Many relatives of hostages have long been demonstrating against the premier, accusing him of sabotaging hostage negotiations and failing to return their loved ones for many months.

Netanyahu also maintained that it had only been his insistence on operating in Rafah that brought about any progress in hostage negotiations after months of Hamas stalling and rejection, something he said he had done in the face of intense international opposition.

“There was massive international pressure not to go into Rafah. There was American pressure not to go into Rafah. There was a reduction in the supply of weapons, to put it mildly… and I said, [US] President [Joe] Biden, my friend, we have no choice. We will go into Rafah. I will go into Rafah. Because if we leave Hamas there, we won’t get either the hostages or defeat Hamas,” Netanyahu said.

“For months there was no progress because the military pressure was not strong enough,” he charged. “And I thought that, for a hostage deal and for the victory over Hamas, we have to go into Rafah,” he contended, even though it was widely reported at the time that it was Netanyahu who was delaying the incursion into the southern Gaza city.

“We entered Rafah, we conquered the Philadelphi Corridor, we conquered the Rafah Crossing, we killed 900 terrorists, we killed hundreds of terrorists in other sectors of the strip, and all of a sudden, things begin to move,” he said.

Lauding what he described as his own determination to attack Rafah in the face of opposition from within the government, he insisted that his decision had been vindicated by what he said was the softening of Hamas’s stance on hostage negotiations.

“If there is any progress, if there are changes in the [Hamas] position, it is because of the strong military pressure and the strong insistence on our conditions that is what is bringing about the changes. I totally reject these briefs [against me] that I am delaying [a hostage deal], that I am toughening [my stance], that I am stopping a deal. It’s the absolute opposite.”

Taking questions from the press, Netanyahu reiterated his opposition to the formation of a state commission of inquiry into the events of October 7 at this time, despite widespread calls for an inquiry, including from his defense minister Yoav Gallant. The premier said he was of the opinion that “such examinations” should begin only after the war ends to avoid diverting the attention of the IDF command while fighting is ongoing on multiple fronts.

Asked whether or not he would fire Gallant due to the long-simmering relationship between the two — which his team has reportedly been considering — Netanyahu answered curtly: “I am not firing ministers. I ask that we work together, and as long as there is trust, it is possible to keep working together.” Netanyahu fired Gallant in March 2023 after the defense minister publicly warned against the damage to Israel’s security caused by rifts over the coalition’s planned judicial overhaul, and then reinstated him amid a public outcry.

Challenged by one reporter as to why he only makes public appearances on days of success in the war, the prime minister claimed the question was part of an “ugly campaign” against him in which “terrible things” are said about him.

“I appear when it’s good, or bad, when I think there are important things to be said,” he claimed, despite numerous critics regularly documenting and decrying the premier’s attempts to distance himself from instances of failure and link himself to successes.

And in response to criticism of his son Yair’s relentless social media attacks on the country’s security services, which a reporter described to the premier as divisive, Netanyahu in turn accused the press of being divisive by what he claimed was a campaign by large parts of the Israeli media for calling early elections.

The press, he insisted, was “always saying there need to be more demonstrations, we need to act against the government, we need elections… Most of the outlets are engaged in this campaign. You know it. I know it. Don’t play innocent…. I agree with you: We need to seek unity.”