Jerusalem: After days of suspense, Israel confirmed on Thursday that Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, believed to have masterminded the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, was killed in an airstrike last month in Gaza. This development comes a day after Hamas's top leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Iran's capital Tehran, with the group claiming Israel's involvement in the early morning attack.

"We can now confirm: Mohammed Deif was eliminated," the Israel Defence Forces announced on X, as a massive crowd gathered in Tehran for the funeral procession of Ismail Haniyeh, who led Hamas's political operations.

On July 13, IDF fighter jets struck a compound in southern Gaza's Khan Yunis area, targeting Mohammed Deif and Rafa'a Salameh, the commander of Hamas's Khan Yunis brigade. Initially, there was no confirmation if Deif, who had evaded seven Israeli assassination attempts, was killed. Following the strike, the Gaza Health Ministry reported that the attack on the "humanitarian zone" for displaced families killed 90 Palestinians.

Who Was Mohammed Deif?
Israel held Deif responsible for the October 7, 2023, massacre, in which 1,200 people were killed in southern Israel, and around 250 were taken as hostages into the Gaza Strip. The attack triggered the ongoing Gaza war, now in its 10th month.

Deif was one of Hamas's most dominant figures and was seen as the second-in-command to the group's chief Yahya Sinwar. He topped Israel's most wanted list for decades and had claimed responsibility for dozens of Israeli deaths in suicide bombings.

The secretive Hamas commander, who rarely appeared in public, joined the group in 1987. Deif, who had a degree in science from the Islamic University in Gaza, was arrested by Israel in 1989 and spent 16 months in prison. He developed Hamas's network of tunnels that posed significant challenges to Israeli forces in Gaza and was known for his bomb-making expertise.

Regional Implications
The back-to-back setbacks for Israel's rivals, with the killing of Deif, Haniyeh, and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr, have sparked concerns of a wider regional conflict in the Middle East.

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