Israel announces death of local Hamas commander for Khan Younis during attack on Al Mawasi safe zone

Follow the latest news on the war in Gaza live

14 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Israeli army has announced the death of the local commander of the Hamas militia in the Gazan city of Khan Yunis during the bombing carried out yesterday in the safe zone of the Al Mawasi displaced persons camp.

“Warplanes yesterday killed Rafa’a Salameh, commander of the Khan Yunis Brigade of the Hamas terrorist organization,” the army and Israel’s national intelligence service, the Shin Bet, announced in a joint statement.

The Palestinian Islamist movement has not yet commented on this information, although sources from the Saudi media outlet Al Hadath reported yesterday that Salamé had died during the attack.

Salamé is described in the statement as one of the organizers of the October 7 massacre in Israel, which left some 1,200 dead, hundreds kidnapped, and became the trigger for the current war in Gaza.

The deceased was one of the two main targets of the bombing along with the commander of the military wing for all of Gaza, Mohamed Deif. Israel has not yet confirmed that Deif was killed in the attack.

“It is still too early to summarise the results of the attack, which Hamas is trying to conceal,” said Israel’s army chief of staff, General Herzi Halevi, on Sunday.

“We are determined to continue pursuing senior Hamas officials, those who planned and carried out the October 7 massacre and dedicated their lives to the murder of innocent people.”

Authorities in Gaza, controlled by the Islamist movement, have estimated that at least 90 people were killed and around 300 wounded during the Israeli bombardment.

Salame became Hamas’s local commander for Khan Younis in 2016, when he replaced Mohamed Sinwar, the brother of Hamas’s political leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar.

The IDF also attributes to him a “leading role” in the kidnapping of soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006 — whose rescue attempt was the origin of an Israeli military campaign that left some 400 Palestinians and 11 Israelis dead — and in the 2014 war, where he was in charge of Hamas’s “combat support and defensive plans.”