Report: Hamas investigates ‘serious internal rift’ that led to attack on Deif

Sources cited in the report said that Deif and his right-hand man Salama, both of whom survived previous Israeli assassination attempts, along with other senior officials, had changed locations several times in recent weeks to evade Israeli surveillance.

According to Al Hadath, Israeli collaborators were tracking Hamas leaders and sharing their exact locations. The Saudi broadcaster reported that Israel had received information about “the movements of Hamas leaders between Rafah and Gaza (city)” from second- and third-level Hamas officials it had arrested and interrogated.

This information on the whereabouts of Deif and Salama comes from a joint special unit of military intelligence and the Shin Bet, whose focus is on obtaining intelligence on high-value Hamas targets and the whereabouts of hostages in the Gaza Strip.

Defense Ministry officials expressed cautious optimism that Deif and Salama were eliminated in the attack, and are convinced that Hamas will try to hide the truth about Deif’s fate.

Hamas quickly disputed the Israeli claims, calling them “false” and suggesting they were intended only to justify the allegedly high death toll in the attack. Palestinian sources say more than 70 people were killed and nearly 300 injured.

Israel stressed that the attack was not aimed at the refugee camp in Al-Mawasi, a humanitarian area where many Palestinian refugees had been evacuated, but at a fenced-off compound used by Hamas terrorists. Israeli sources told the Wall Street Journal that most of the victims were terrorists, including Deif and Salama’s bodyguards.

A senior Hamas official did not confirm whether Deif was present and called the Israeli accusations “nonsense.”

The terrorist organization issued threats after the attack and called on “the resistance fronts in the West Bank and around the world to continue to support the resistance in the Gaza Strip, to incite the West Bank and to escalate the situation.”

Condemnation poured in from across the Arab and Muslim world, and Egypt was among the first. “Egypt has informed the relevant parties about the danger of Israeli escalation in Gaza and the harm to civilians. Israel’s policies are leading to further escalation that will have serious consequences for the entire region,” a senior Egyptian official told Al Qahera News.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry also condemned the “killing of dozens of civilians in Al-Mawasi” and accused Israel of being involved in “another incident in the Netanyahu government’s efforts to exterminate all Palestinians.”

“What is happening in Gaza is not war or self-defense, but genocide. As long as Israel tries to achieve its security by occupying land, no country in the region, including Turkey, will feel safe,” said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.