Hamas is investigating a "major internal breach" that has led to an IDF strike in the Al-Mawasi area near Khan Younis which reportedly targeted Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif and Khan Younis Brigade Commander Rafa Salama, Saudi network Al-Hadath reported on Saturday afternoon.
Sources cited in the report said that Deif and his right-hand man Salama, both of whom have survived previous Israeli assassination attempts, had relocated multiple times in recent weeks along with other senior officials to evade Israeli surveillance.
According to Al Hadath, Israeli collaborators tracked Hamas leaders and shared their precise locations. The Saudi channel reported that Israel acquired intelligence about "the movements of Hamas leaders between Rafah and Gaza [City]" from "second- and third-tier" Hamas officials it detained and interrogated.
The assassination was approved overnight Saturday after receiving intelligence that Deif had surfaced from the tunnels, creating a rare opportunity to eliminate him. The precise intelligence relied on technological surveillance and listening capabilities, as well as human tracking on the ground, leading to cross-referencing and final confirmation that Deif was at the targeted site, among "shacks, sheds and palm trees."
This information on Deif and Salama's location came from a special combined unit of Military Intelligence and Shin Bet, which focuses on gathering intelligence on senior Hamas targets and the location of hostages in the Gaza Strip.
Defense officials expressed cautious optimism that Deif and Salama were eliminated in the strike and believe that Hamas will try to hide the truth about Deif's fate.
Aftermath of IDF airstrike in Al-Mawasi
Hamas quickly cast doubt on the Israeli claims, calling them "false" and suggesting they were intended to justify the alleged high death toll from the attack. According to Palestinians, over 70 people were killed and nearly 300 injured.
Israel emphasized that the attack was not on the displaced persons compound in Al-Mawasi, a humanitarian area where many Palestinian refugees had been evacuated, but rather on a fenced compound used by Hamas terrorists. Israeli sources told The Wall Street Journal that most of the casualties were terrorists, including the bodyguards of Deif and Salama.
A senior Hamas official did not confirm whether Deif had been present and called the Israeli allegations "nonsense".
"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, adding the strike showed Israel was not interested in reaching a cease-fire deal.
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Mohammed Deif's hideout before and after Israeli strike
(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
The terror organization issued threats following the strike, calling on "resistance fronts in the West Bank and worldwide to continue supporting the resistance in Gaza, to stir up the West Bank and to escalate."
Condemnations poured in from across the Arab and Muslim world, with Egypt among the first. "Egypt has informed relevant parties about the danger of the Israeli escalation in Gaza and the harm to civilians. Israel's policies are leading to further escalation, which will have severe consequences for the entire region," a senior Egyptian official told Al Qahera News.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry also condemned what it called the "killing of dozens of civilians in Al-Mawasi," accusing Israel of engaging in "another incident in the Netanyahu government's efforts to annihilate all Palestinians."
"What is happening in Gaza is not war or self-defense, but genocide. As long as Israel tries to achieve its security through occupying land, no country in the region, including Turkey, will feel safe," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said, "The attack on displaced persons' tents in areas declared 'safe' by Israel is a new crime on Israel's list of crimes. These crimes continue amid the silence of the international community. Israel has again shown that it stops at no red line."
The Qatari newspaper The New Arab emphasized that the strike occurred in an area designated as humanitarian, despite Israeli clarifications that the strike targeted a fenced Hamas compound within that area. The headline in the Qatari newspaper read "The Lie of Safe Zones," alleging that Israel deliberately targets humanitarian areas and "covers it up by claiming they are strikes on militants."
Fatah, the movement of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, also condemned the strike. "The bloody massacre carried out by the occupation army against the displaced in the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis demonstrates the extent of the criminal tendency of the occupation system, which sanctions the blood of the Palestinian people to implement displacement and expulsion projects," it said in a statement.
"It has committed bloody massacres against civilians, including women, children and the elderly, as part of the systematic extermination war it has been waging in Gaza and the West Bank since October 7."