Hamas has acknowledged that the strike by the IDF on Saturday morning on a site near Khan Yunis in the Southern Gaza Strip killed Rafa’a Salameh, Hamas commander in the Khan Yunis area. Israeli intelligence has asserted with certainty that Mohammad Deif (Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri), top commander of Hamas’s military wing Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, was also at the site, but has not yet confirmed that he was killed. Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official, has denied that Deif was harmed, saying that he was alive and "mocking Netanyahu". Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a press conference yesterday evening during which he praised the IDF operation, although he stopped short of claiming that Deif had definitely been killed. Israel has made several attempts in the past to kill Deif, who was responsible for the planning of many terrorist attacks on Israel.
Hamas claims that the attack took place in the designated safe zone of al-Mawasi, and that ninety people were killed in the airstrike, in which heavy munitions were used. The IDF says that the strike was on a Hamas compound not part of the civilian encampment, and that most of those killed were Hamas operatives.
"The very fact of the attempt to kill Deif sends a message that Israel will not be deterred from acting in densely populated areas with high collateral damage," Ido Zelkovitz, a policy fellow at the Mitvim Institute and head of the Middle East Studies Program at the Jezreel Valley Academic College, told "Globes". "The attack took place in the heart of a civilian site where it is hard to make us of electronic means because it is so crowded. From above, al-Mawasi looks like a ‘pool of tents’, and so it’s difficult to spot people moving around. The fact that the intelligence was nevertheless precise arouses panic among the Hamas leadership, and comes on top of the killing of the head of the Hamas internal security forces, who was responsible for hunting down collaborators with Israel."
What is Deif’s role in the current war?
"Mohammed Deif was the brains behind the October 7 attack, and it must not be forgotten that on that day an audio statement was released by Izz al-Din al-Qassam with his voice, declaring war. Deif is the strategist who built the entire array of forces. He is a formative legend in the military chronicles of Hamas. It’s not for nothing that Israel has tried to eliminate him so many times. That indicates the importance of the man, who is known as ‘the man in the shadows.’"
Rotem Mey-Tal, CEO of Asgard Systems, a developer of military technologies, explains that the air munitions used in the attempt to kill Deif and Salameh were probably US-made Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) bombs, that is, unguided bombs converted with a guidance kit that turns them into precision weapons. The US government held up a consignment of such weapons several months ago, which became a point of contention with Israel. "Their use, particularly in a widely publicized operation such as this one, represents de facto oral consent by the US administration to Israeli policy in its campaign in the Gaza Strip," says Mey-Tal.
How will the operation affect the future course of the war?
Zelkovitz: "The possible killing of Mohammed Deif is important, because as we have learned in recent years, contrary to the stories told about him he is cognitively fully functional. Deif built Hamas’s attack strategy. In my view, this is a much more significant hit than hitting Yahya Sinwar. Deif has 30 years’ accumulated knowledge from building Hamas’s military array with all its capabilities, from its rocket arm to attack tunnels. In fact, this is a hit to a very important fund of knowledge and organizational memory, and a symbol for the young generation of Hamas supporters."
How important is Rafa’a Salameh?
"Salameh is one of the Hamas top five. He was responsible for conducting military operations in the Khan Yunis sector. This is a very important sector to Hamas, for it’s not just Deif who is from the area. It’s also where Yahya and Mohammed Sinwar grew up. This is a severe blow to Hamas’s morale. Each of the divisional commanders is an important figure who is in contact with the fighters on the ground. These are charismatic people who are supposed to motivate the fighters and give them confidence, despite the IDF’s shelling. So this is a very significant blow, coming after the killing of other Hamas divisional commanders."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on July 14, 2024.
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