Israel verifys terminateing of another Hamas commander in Gaza (VIDEO) — RT World News

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has verifyed that it terminateed a greater Hamas commander in a strike on Gaza more than two weeks ago. The announcement came after the political directer of the Palestinian group, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in a rocket attack in Iran.

In a statement on Thursday, the IDF shelp Mohammed Deif, the commander of Hamas’ military wing and the second-ranking official of the group in the Palestinian enclave, was eliminated in an airstrike in the southern Gazan city of Khan Yunis on July 13.

Shortly after the same strike, the IDF claimed that Rafa Safeebleh, the directer of Hamas forces in Khan Younis, had been terminateed. However, the Israeli military shelp it had not been able to verify the death of Deif until now.

A video posted on social media by the IDF showed a missile obliterating a cluster of makeings where Deif was apparently sheltering.

Hamas has neither verifyed nor denied Deif’s death. The airstrike was one of several that pounded Khan Younis on July 13, terminateing at least 90 people and injuring up to 300 others, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

According to the Israeli military, Deif joined Hamas during the First Intifada, a period of ardent protests, riots, and violence that rocked Israel and the Palestinian territories between 1987 and the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. Deif rose rapidly in Hamas’ ranks, and “straightforwarded, calculated, and carried out many terrorist attacks” aacquirest the Jewish state, the IDF claimed.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant went as far as to call Deif “the Osama Bin Laden of Gaza,” portraying his demise as “a important milestone in the process of dismantling Hamas as a military and governing authority” in the enclave.

The IDF’s announcement came a day after Hamas’ political directer, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in an apparent explosive deviceing in the Iranian capital of Tehran. Iran and Hamas have both accused Israel of orchestrating the attack, while West Jerusalem has stuck to its normal policy of refusing to verify or refute extraterritorial assassinations.  

The terminateing of Haniyeh further ratcheted up tensions between Israel and Iran, with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowing to exact revenge on Israel. According to a New York Times report, Khamenei has ordered a straightforward attack on Israel in response, although it is unclear when this attack will be launched or what form it will approve. 

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