Israel says half of Hamas military leadership killed since October 7

Israel’s military announced on Tuesday it had eliminated half of Hamas’ military leadership since the war in Gaza began more than nine months ago, in addition to about 14,000 fighters who had been killed or apprehended during the conflict.

The announcement, which the Washington Post could not independently verify, came amid more reported airstrikes across Gaza. At least 17 were reported dead in Mawasi, a humanitarian area in the southern city of Khan Younis, with more than 60 dead throughout the Strip, local health authorities said.

Israel did not list Mohammed Deif, the leader of Hamas’ armed wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, as among the Hamas military leadership who had been eliminated.

Israeli forces have said Deif, one of the organisation’s top leaders, was an intended target of a strike on Khan Younis on Saturday that local authorities said killed 90 people. Hamas has repeatedly denied Deif was killed in the strike. The group has accused Israel of using strikes to derail the latest ceasefire talks backed by the Biden administration, even as ground forces in Gaza are scaled back.

While Gaza has been the subject of nearly continuous fighting since the October 7 attacks on Israel that were led by Hamas, Israel has offered only sporadic updates on how many of the militant group’s leadership and fighters have been killed in its response.

Speaking on a podcast in May, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said about 30,000 people had died in Gaza and Hamas fighters accounted for “nearly half” of that toll, describing the ratio of civilians killed to combatants as “about one to one”.

The Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says most of the dead are women and children, says at least 38,713 people have been killed since October 7, and 89,166 have been injured.

At least 17 were reported dead in Mawasi, a humanitarian area in the southern city of Khan Younis, after an Israeli attack. Photo / Getty Images

Israel estimates 1200 people were killed in Hamas’s October 7 attack, including more than 300 soldiers, with more than 320 killed since military operations began in Gaza.

In its announcement on Tuesday, Israel’s military said it was focusing its efforts on “locating terrorists who embed themselves and establish bases in sensitive sites across the Gaza Strip, including in hospitals, schools, and humanitarian shelters”.

“These areas are cynically exploited by terrorists who attempt to use them as hiding places and bases for terrorism,” the statement said, adding that the strikes against the infrastructure were in “accordance with international law”.