Today (Saturday) the IDF attacked a compound with buildings in West Khan Yunis with the aim of assassinating senior Hamas official Muhammad Daf. The security establishment estimates that Muhammad Daf was hit by an attack carried out by a fighter jet, and they say that no hostages are known to be in the compound. The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, which is under the control of Hamas said that more than 70 people were killed and 280 injured in the attack. After the attack, Defense Minister Yoav Galant held a situation assessment with Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and Shin Bet Chief Ronan Bar.
The IDF says that Daf was in the compound built above ground, together with the commander of the Khan Yunis Brigade of Hamas, Rafe Salama, and other activists at the time of the attack. The army also estimates that it will be difficult for Hamas to respond to the assassination in the organization’s current state. Because these are “false claims aimed at covering up the crimes committed by Israel”.
Eyewitnesses reported a massive attack, and the rescue services in Gaza said that there were many refugees and displaced persons in the compound, and that the number of dead is expected to rise. The Ministry of Information of Hamas stated that some of the dead were members of rescue teams who arrived at the scene following the attack. A senior Hamas official told the Reuters news agency that those killed in the attack were civilians, and that the attack “proves that Israel is not interested in a deal.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he was updated on all developments during the night and continues to receive regular updates. It was also reported that “during the day, the Prime Minister will hold a situation assessment with all the security and military officials to discuss the next developments and steps.”
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Mohammad Daf (from the left) next to Rafe Salama of Brigadier General Khan Yunis who was with him in the compound that was attacked Photo: no credit
Mohammad Daf (from the left) next to Rafe Salama of Brigadier General Khan Yunis who was with him in the compound that was attacked Photo: no credit
Daf, the head of the Hamas military wing, led the planning of the massacre in the Gaza Envelope on October 7 together with the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar. It has been considered one of Israel’s main targets in the Gaza Strip since the mid-1990s. Israel tried to assassinate him even then, and additional attempts were made in the early 2000s and in Operation Tzuk Eitan in 2014, but he survived all of them and was seriously injured in some of them. In December, during the fighting in Gaza, a document was discovered of Daf in a tunnel in the Gaza Strip, in better health than Israel had estimated.
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The area attacked by the IDF Photo: IDF spokesman
The area attacked by the IDF Photo: IDF spokesman
The head of the military wing of Hamas, who is approaching 60 years old, grew up in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip. In his youth he became friends with Muhammad Dahlan, then a Fatah activist and later one of the senior officials of the Palestinian Authority. The relationship between the two was maintained intermittently until the early 2000s. With the outbreak of the first intifada and the establishment of Hamas, Daf became an active member of the organization. Relatively quickly, Daf became one of the key activists in the military wing of Hamas, alongside Yahya Ayyash and Salah Shahada – both of whom were assassinated by Israel during their lives – as well as Hassan Salama, who is serving life sentences in an Israeli prison.
In April and July 1994, Daf was behind the kidnappings and murders of the soldiers Shahar Simani and Aryeh Frankenthal, and in October of that year he played a central role in the operation of the squad that kidnapped and murdered the soldier Nachshon Waxman. Daf was also involved in the bus attacks in Israel in those years.
In March, the IDF killed Daf’s deputy, Marwan Issa, in an attack in the Nuseirat camp in the center of the Gaza Strip. Issa is considered number 3 in the leadership of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, following Yahya Sinwar and Muhammad Daf.
