A mastermind is killed in the Israeli attack on a refugee camp in southern Gaza on October 7. It is unclear whether the Hamas military chief was also killed.
At least 300 people were injured at the ruins in al-Mawasi in southern Gaza, according to Palestinian sources. Photo: Mohammed Salem/Reuters
BERLIN taz | The explosions on Saturday morning were considerably louder than residents of Khan Yunis have been accustomed to for months. The 70-meter-high plume of smoke left by the Israeli airstrike on the al-Mawasi refugee camp west of the city also sent many people fleeing in fear of further attacks. According to Palestinian sources, at least 90 people were killed in the Israeli military operation. At least 300 others were wounded.
Al-Mawasi is a humanitarian protection zone designated by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Palestinians from other parts of the Gaza Strip have found refuge. With five 1,000-kilogram bombs, the IDF had attacked a target on the 12-kilometer stretch of coastline between Rafah and Khan Yunis that it apparently considered more important than its self-proclaimed protected status: Mohammed Deif.
The Hamas military chief and his entourage were reportedly in the middle of al-Mawasi’s tents at the time of the attack. “The attack took place in a fenced area controlled by Hamas,” an Israeli military statement said Saturday. “None of the casualties were civilians.” The Israeli military reported Sunday the death of Rafa Salama, the commander of the Hamas brigade in the town of Khan Yunis.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a news conference in Tel Aviv on Saturday that Deif’s fate was uncertain. However, the numerous missing people and the meter-deep impact crater in al-Mawasi suggest that Deif had no chance of survival – if he was actually in the area.
A kind of superhero in Gaza
According to Israeli information, Mohammed Deif has so far organized the Hamas operations from the tunnel system under the Gaza Strip and apparently came on the radar of the Shin Bet intelligence service shortly before the operation. Like Salama, he is considered the strategic planner of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Hamas announced on its social media on Saturday that Mohammed Deif was still alive. “The massacre in Al-Mawasi took place in an area with 80,000 displaced people,” a Hamas statement said. And: “The attack is clear evidence that the Zionist government is continuing its campaign of extermination against the Palestinian population.”
But who is Deif? Mohammed Deif, head of the Kassam Brigade, was born in 1965 in Khan Yunis to Palestinian refugees and has been on Israel’s most wanted list for more than thirty years. He is said to have escaped his pursuers alive seven times, and once again, according to Hamas, he survived the Israeli Air Force’s attempt to eliminate the dangerous arch-enemy.
There are good reasons why the Israeli military and intelligence services are not giving up the hunt for the man who is said to have taken nine lives. He is said to have been responsible for the deaths of several dozen terror victims. In kidnappings, knife and gun attacks, numerous bombings, in the planning of the tunnel system in the Gaza Strip and the development of short-range rockets – Deif had a hand in everything. In Gaza, Deif is seen as a kind of superhero. His death would be a serious moral setback for the Islamist terrorist organization.
At the army press conference in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu appeared for the first time without Defense Minister Joav Galant or other ministers in his cabinet. In recent weeks, Galant has repeatedly called for a political alternative to Hamas rule in Gaza.
Hamas wants to continue negotiations
Observers see this as an insult to Netanyahu, who promised in the spring that they were only “one step away from military victory.” According to Netanyahu, he only gave the order to attack al-Mawasi when there was sufficient intelligence information on Deif’s whereabouts and the danger to civilians was low.
Meanwhile, thousands of Israelis took to the streets of Tel Aviv again on Saturday night, calling for an end to the Gaza war and an agreement for the return of up to 120 kidnapped Israeli hostages. “Stop the madness” or “Bibi (Netanhaju), the enemy of Israel”according to the posters of the demonstrators.
Apparently, the terrorist organization wants to continue the ongoing ceasefire negotiations, despite the attack on al-Mawasi. They recently had a breakthrough. Initially, there were conflicting signals from Hamas about what to do next. However, a member of the Hamas political bureau made it clear on Sunday that the negotiations, which had initially shown promise, would continue, “despite Israeli attempts to hinder them with massacres.”