Israeli intelligence monitored a villa in southern Gaza for weeks, suspecting it housed a high-ranking Hamas official and his family. However, they refrained from striking, hoping for an opportunity to target Muhammad Deif, the enigmatic commander of Hamas’s military wing, according to three senior Israeli defense officials, NY Times correspondents in Israel Ronen Bergman and Patrick Kingsley reported.
On Saturday, upon receiving intelligence suggesting Deif’s presence at the location, Israel launched an airstrike. The assault devastated the compound and resulted in dozens of Palestinian casualties in the surrounding area.
Israeli intelligence agents obtained the information on Friday indicating Deif’s presence at the villa, according to the officials. This intel was relayed through command channels to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who authorized the strike. The military received additional confirmation of Deif’s location after 10 AM on Saturday, prompting the launch of fighter jets. In addition to the primary attack, the Israeli forces conducted a secondary airstrike near emergency responders. This secondary strike was corroborated by video and photographic evidence examined by The New York Times.
The following day, the Israeli military and the Shin Bet confirmed that the operation had successfully eliminated Rafah Salameh, the Hamas commander. However, the status of Muhammad Deif, who is Hamas’s second-in-command and believed to be a key strategist behind the October 7 attack on Israel, remains uncertain. Deif has previously survived at least seven assassination attempts.
Likud Minister and former Shin Bet chief Avi Dichter estimated Monday morning in an interview with Reshet Bet Radio that Muhammad Deif had indeed been eliminated. “The security establishment should operate as if he is gone, and if it turns out that he is back, then he will catch another bomb – every dog has its day,” Dichter said, using the Arabic version of the adage. “Each figure of Deif’s magnitude that is removed from the fighting contributes to bringing about the cessation of combat or its decline.”
Dichter added that Hamas’s reaction attests to Israel’s achievements in the war: “In any other event of this magnitude, their reaction to Muhammad Deif would have been greater than what we see,” he said. Indeed, Israelis on Sunday anticipated a Hamas show of force in the form of hundreds of rockets and mortars fired at civilian centers in retaliation. The fact that none were shot may suggest that Hamas’s capacity has been badly damaged.
So far, the death toll in Gaza, according to the Hamas health ministry, stands at 400.
Incidentally, a few observant Israelis who were forced out of Gush Katif by Ariel Sharon’s government in August 2005 identified the Hamas compound that was erased by the IAF on Saturday night as Neve Dekalim. The villa is in an area known as Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younes near the Mediterranean Sea – Neve Dekalim was part of Al-Mawasi.
