Israel army says signs increasing that Hamas chief Deif killed

JERUSALEM: The Israeli army said Friday there are mounting indications that a strike in Gaza killed Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif.
“There are increasing signs that imply a successful elimination of (Mohammed) Deif,” Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told a press conference.
Israel has already said the July 13 strike killed Rafa Salama, commander of Hamas’s Khan Yunis Brigade.
A Hamas official, without providing proof, has said Deif, commander of the Islamist group’s military wing, was “well and directly overseeing” operations despite the strike.
But Hagari said the two Hamas leaders “were sitting next to each other at the time of the strike.” He accused Hamas of “hiding what happened” to Deif.
“We will find out, confirm and reveal it,” Hagari said.
Video of the attack showed a grey mushroom cloud billowing over a busy street. The blast left behind a huge crater strewn with the wreckage of tents and a building blown to bits.
Two weapons experts told AFP that a sliver of munition seen in a video of the blast site circulating online was a tail fin from a US-made Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) that converts an old-fashioned unguided bombs into a precision munition. AFP could not independently verify the video.
Trevor Ball, a former US Army explosive ordnance disposal technician, said the JDAM was most likely used with either a 1,000- or 2,000-pound (450 or 900 kilogramme) payload.
Israel has said that Deif and Salama were two of the “masterminds” of the October 7 attacks by Hamas that triggered the Gaza war.
The Hamas attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
Israel’s military retaliation has killed at least 38,848 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.