Israel says Hamas commander killed in southern Gaza strike but fate of military chief unclear

CNN
 — 

Israel has announced that a Hamas commander was killed in Saturday’s strike on southern Gaza, but the fate of the major target, Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, remains uncertain.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Sunday that Rafe Salama, the head of the Khan Younis brigade and Deif’s deputy, was “eliminated” in the attack.

According to the statement, Salama was “one of the closest associates” of Deif, as well as “one of the masterminds” of Hamas’ attack on October 7.

It remains unclear if Deif himself died in Saturday’s strike. The Israeli military is verifying whether he was killed while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also acknowledged it is uncertain whether he died.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said the strike killed at least 90 Palestinians and injured 300 others in Al-Mawasi, a designated humanitarian zone.

The UN’s Scott Anderson described what he saw at a nearby hospital in the aftermath of the strikes as “the most horrific scenes I have seen in my nine months in Gaza.”

An elusive and powerful figure, Deif is understood to be one of the architects behind the October 7 attacks. He has led the Palestinian militant group’s armed wing for more than two decades.

If his death is confirmed, Deif would be the highest profile Hamas leader killed since the war in Gaza began nine months ago. Israel has been seeking to dismantle Hamas following the October 7 attacks but with fighting ongoing and senior Hamas figures at large, that goal has seemed distant.

Israeli intelligence services said this past week they killed a total of 25 Hamas operatives involved in the October 7 attacks.

Ronen Bar, the head of Israel’s intelligence agency, the Shin Bet announced the figure during a meeting with commanders from the IDF’s Southern Command and 162 Division held in Rafah on Saturday. Bar commended the results of the Shin Bet’s “intensified activity” within Gaza.

Meanwhile, a fresh Israeli airstrike that hit a UN agency school in a camp for displaced people in central Gaza on Sunday has killed at least 15 and injured more than 100 others, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza and officials at a nearby hospital.

Video from the scene in Al-Nuseirat camp shows bodies and injured people — some bleeding and covered in rubble — being rushed to ambulances.

A statement from the IDF on Sunday said the Israeli Air Force struck “a number of terrorists” who were operating in the area of the school in Nuseirat.