Posted on 07/14/24
| News Source: Arutz-7
The Israeli strike targeting Hamas’ military leader, Mohammed Deif, in southern Gaza on Saturday followed weeks of surveillance of a compound used by one of his key lieutenants, Rafa’a Salameh, The New York Times reported on Sunday, citing three senior Israeli defense officials.
The strike was authorized after prolonged observation of one of Salameh’s secret command posts located west of Khan Yunis, the three senior Israeli officials told the newspaper.
The villa surrounded by palm trees near the Mediterranean Sea belonged to Salameh’s family, two of the officials said. Salameh began spending more time there in recent months after Israeli forces overran many of his other strongholds in Khan Yunis, both above and below ground, according to two of the officials.
Salameh spent much of his time in Hamas’s underground tunnel network, but he also stayed regularly at the villa, along with his family and other militants, to escape the stifling conditions in the tunnels, the officials told The New York Times.
Officers from an Israeli unit that oversees the identification of high-value targets, staffed by operatives from both military intelligence and the Shin Bet, detected Salameh’s presence several weeks ago, the officials said. But, they added, Israeli leaders decided to delay any attempts to kill him to see if he would be joined at some point by Deif.
The officials said that they became more confident that Deif might enter Salameh’s compound after a growing cache of evidence suggested that Deif placed unusual trust in his subordinate. The evidence included a recently uncovered photograph, reviewed by The New York Times, of the two men relaxing together in a garden.
On Friday, Israeli intelligence officers received information that suggested that Deif had appeared at Salameh’s compound, the officials said. The news was referred up the chain of command to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who eventually signed off on the strike overnight Friday.