The Israeli army confirmed on Sunday the death of the commander of the Khan Younis brigade of the armed wing of Hamas, Rafaa Salameh, right-hand man of the military chief and number two of the terrorist group in the Gaza Strip, Mohammed Deif, whose death has not yet been confirmed.
“Yesterday, Saturday, following information from the Shin Bet and the Israel Defense Forces, the Air Force attacked and eliminated the commander of the Hamas Khan Younis brigade, Rafaa Salameh. He was one of Deif’s closest collaborators and one of the masterminds behind the October 7 massacre,” an Israeli military statement said.
Israel on Saturday launched a strike on a compound in Al Mawasi, considered a humanitarian zone in the Khan Younis area, with the aim of killing Mohammed Deif, the head of the Al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, and the alleged mastermind behind the October 7 attacks. Israeli authorities have yet to confirm that Deif was killed in the strike, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late on Saturday that “there is still no absolute certainty” of his death; Hamas was quick to deny that Deif had died, although it did not provide any evidence. The attack also left at least 90 people dead and more than 300 wounded, according to authorities in Hamas-controlled Gaza.
The Israeli army justified the attack on an area it classified as a “humanitarian zone” by claiming that the bombing was precise and that it took place on a Hamas compound located in an open area, surrounded by trees and buildings, and not on the tents of Al Mawasi, where thousands of displaced people live.
Rafaa Salameh was responsible for missile launches against Israel
Rafaa Salameh joined Hamas in the early 1990s and was appointed commander of the Khan Younis and Al Qarara battalion of the Al Qassam Brigades, under the command of Mohammed Sinwar, brother of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas chief inside Gaza and the most powerful man within the group at the moment, who was also the mastermind behind the October 7 attacks and whose whereabouts are still unknown.
“Salameh played a key role in the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shilat during Operation Protective Edge in 2014. He was in command of Hamas’ combat support and defensive plans,” the Israeli military said.
In 2016, he replaced Mohamed Sinwar as commander of the Khan Younis Brigade, one of Hamas’ most powerful, and in this position Salameh “was responsible for all projectile launches fired from the area towards Israeli territory. (…) Salameh also controlled two offensive terrorist tunnels that were dismantled in Khan Younis in Operation Guardian of the Walls in May 2021. In this operation, 18 terrorists who attempted to infiltrate Israeli territory were eliminated,” the military statement added. According to Israel, the elimination of Salameh “significantly undermines Hamas’ military capabilities.”
The head of the Shin Bet internal security agency, Ron Bar, said on Sunday that Israeli forces had killed 25 militiamen who participated in the October 7 attack over the past week. “The attack on Khan Younis is the result of surgical intelligence, which begins with the effort you have been making here in recent months,” Bar said during a visit to Israeli troops in Rafah, southern Gaza, about the five-missile strike launched yesterday against Al Mawasi with the intention of killing Deif.
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