Netanyahu: It is not certain whether Deif was killed in Israeli attack in Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was still not clear whether Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif and his deputy were killed in an Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, but he vowed to pursue Israel’s war aims to the end.

“One way or another, we will reach the entire Hamas leadership,” he said at a televised press conference.

The attack took place in an area that the military had declared safe for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the densely populated southern Gaza Strip.

In a statement, Hamas denied that Deif had been in the area. “These false claims are only intended to cover up the extent of the horrific massacre,” it said.

Netanyahu’s brief press conference was called after the Israeli military said it had carried out an attack on Deif and senior Hamas commander Rafa Salama in the city of Khan Younis based on allegedly accurate intelligence.

The Gaza Strip’s Health Ministry reported 90 deaths and said at least 300 others were injured in the attack, one of the deadliest of the war.

Deif has not been seen in public for years, has long been at the top of Israel’s most wanted list, and is believed to have escaped several Israeli assassination attempts. On October 7, Hamas released a rare voice recording of Deif announcing Operation Al Aqsa Flood.