The deputy head of Hamas, Khalil al-Hayya, refuted claims by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that recent Israeli airstrikes had targeted and killed a top Hamas military commander.
Israel’s Army Radio reported earlier in the day that Mohammed Deif, the commander of Hamas’s military wing, and Rafa’a Salameh, the commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade, were the targets of the Israeli airstrike.
In an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic, al-Hayya stated that Netanyahu had intended to declare a “fake victory” during his news conference while announcing the killing of Mohammed Deif in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis city in the south of Gaza.
Hayya firmly denied that Deif had been killed, asserting that the Hamas military leader remained alive.
Pertinently, Deif, 58, has been considered one of Israel’s most wanted men for many years and was previously injured during several attempts to kill him.
Al-Hayya, who was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council in 2006 as a representative of Gaza City, reiterated that Israel’s claims about targeting Deif are false “despite the pain for the dozens of victims and martyrs, most of whom were women and children.”
Al-Hayya has been a key figure in negotiating ceasefires between Hamas and Israel, including during the 2014 Gaza war.
The Gaza health authorities said that at least 71 Palestinians were killed and 289 others injured by the Israeli airstrike that attacked tents of displaced people in Khan Younis.
The death toll for what has widely been deemed “massacres” reached 90 today, with more expected as bodies are dug out from rubble and dirt.
Follow on Twitter | Posted by Sayima Ahmad | 
