The IDF announced this morning that Hamas commander Mohammed Deif was killed in an airstrike by the IAF last month.

In a post on social media, Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant referred to Deif, the head of Hamas’s armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, as the “Bin Laden of Gaza.”

He confirmed that Deif, one of the architects of the October 7 massacre, was assassinated on 13 July during an Israeli strike on Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip, which also killed Hamas’s Khan Younis brigade commander Rafa’a Salameh.

Gallant said: “This is a significant milestone in the process of dismantling Hamas as a military and governing authority in Gaza, and in the achievement of the goals of this war. The operation was conducted precisely and professionally by the IDF and ISA.

“This operation reflects the fact that Hamas is disintegrating, and that Hamas terrorists may either surrender or they will be eliminated. Israel’s defense establishment will pursue Hamas terrorists - both the planners and the perpetrators of the 07.10 massacre. We will not rest until this mission is accomplished.”

At the time of the strike, Israeli military sources said it was likely that Deif was killed, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not confirm it.

The official confirmation of Deif’s assassination comes in the immediate aftermath of an Israeli strike on Hezbollah’s Fuad Shukr in Beirut and the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran which Israel has not taken responsibility for.

Deif and Haniyeh are not the only Hamas leaders to be assassinated this year. In January Saleh al-Aruri, the deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau, was killed in an explosion in Beirut which Lebanese media say was carried out by an Israeli drone, but which officials declined to comment on.