The pair were struck with large munitions above ground while in a low building between the al-Mawasi area and Khan Younis in southern Gaza, and not in a tunnel.

Hamas claimed that over 70 people had been killed in the strike.

According to the IDF’s assessments, no hostages were held at the site when the strike was carried out.

Deif’s fate was unknown as of 4 p.m., though Hebrew outlets cited unnamed political officials as saying there was a growing likelihood he had been killed.

A senior Hamas official denied that Deif was targeted in the strike.

“The Israeli allegations are nonsense and they aim to justify the horrifying massacre. All the martyrs are civilians and what happened was a grave escalation of the war of genocide, backed by the American support and world silence,” Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters. He also said that the strike showed Israel is not interested in reaching a ceasefire agreement.

Al-Mawasi is designated by Israel as a humanitarian zone. But the IDF said the building struck was not in a tent camp for displaced Palestinians, but rather in a fenced-off Hamas compound within a civilian environment. Several dozen more Hamas operatives were also in the area of the site when it was targeted, including Deif and Salameh’s guards, military sources said.

Nevertheless, photos emerging from Gaza showed bodies of children and elderly individuals, purportedly from the scene.

An image released by the IDF shows a fenced-off Hamas compound in the southern Gaza Strip where Muhammad Deif, the commander of Hamas’s military wing, and Rafa’a Salameh, the commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade were targeted on July 13, 2024.

Deif, 58, who has commanded the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades for over two decades, has long been one of the terror figures most wanted by Israel. He was an architect of Hamas’s October 7 onslaught on Israel, the deadliest attack in the country’s history, when some 1,200 people were killed and around 251 others dragged to Gaza as hostages.

Alongside Deif was another top figure, Rafa’a Salameh, the commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade. Salameh is considered to be close to Deif, and acting as his deputy since the assassination of the previous deputy head of the al-Qassam Brigades.