Yediot Ahronot’s military correspondent Alex Fishman claims the IDF’s modus operandi in the Gaza Strip has changed. He says, "The political leadership has given the IDF and General Security Service (GSS) much more leeway and flexibility regarding ‘targeted killings’ of wanted terrorists.” Fishman prefers the term "pinpoint eliminations”, however he also mentioned, “surgical strikes."
Why do Fishman and other correspondents torment their readers by using oblique terminology? Perhaps they are simply articulating the same fondness military spokespeople have for bandying with words. Why do they avoid the word assassination? After all, the political leaders, commentators and the actual “dispatchers" have few qualms about "doing the job," so why don't they call a spade a spade?
The preamble above is something I wrote twelve years ago. Since then, nothing much has changed. Alex Fishman writes for another news outlet and I have resorted to regurgitating old stuff.
Speaking at a closed-door conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, CIA Director Bill Burns said that Yahya Sinwar is not “concerned about his own mortality,” and instead has been forced to consider a ceasefire because of pressure over the suffering in the Gaza Strip.
The report said that this pressure has increased over the past two weeks, which have seen Hamas drop major demands, as well as lose some of its key commanders in Israeli attacks.
According to i24NEWS, Burns said that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is facing pressure from his own military commanders to accept a tabled ceasefire deal to end the war with Israel.
Senior Hamas commanders are weary of the war, now in its tenth month, and are pressuring Sinwar to agree to an Israeli proposal that was promoted by US President Joe Biden at the end of May. Talks on the proposal are ongoing, with officials voicing either optimism that a deal could be reached or concern that the moment is slipping away.
At the conference, Burns said that Israeli and Hamas leaders must seize the opportunity to reach an agreement, the source said.
Suffering in Gaza caused by the Israel-Hamas war has pushed the terrorist organisation to seriously consider a ceasefire deal.
Despite the continued Israeli assault, Hamas and other Gazan terrorist groups retaliated with muted capabilities, showing the fighting has shifted to a more insurgency-based resistance than a proper defence of the Gaza enclave.
Citing a source who was at the conference, CNN said that US officials believe Sinwar is hiding in Khan Yunis.
The CIA declined to comment on the report.
This comes as a high-profile Israeli delegation is set to travel to either Egypt or Qatar to continue negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release.
A report published recently by The Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) an independent think tank affiliated with Tel Aviv University
dealt with:
The operation to eliminate Mohammed Deif; the impact on the war and the effect on Yahya Sinwar.
“The results of the operation to eliminate Mohammed Deif are still unclear, but if the goal was indeed achieved (something that, according to media reports, is highly probable), it is a worthy and important operation that to some extent is comparable to the operations to eliminate Qassem Soleimani and Imad Mughniyeh. All three were experienced terrorists, very significant centres of knowledge, inspiring ‘up-and-coming’ terror groups.
The elimination of Deif becomes even more significant given the current reality of severe damage to Hamas’ military wing and its transition to guerrilla warfare. However, it is important to remember that organisations such as Hamas and Hezbollah are more than the sum of their components or commanders. Israel has previously eliminated the leaders of these organisations and other very senior military figures, and yet the organisations continued to grow, develop and become more significant security threats to Israel, while establishing their status as political players in the Palestinian and Lebanese arenas.
The Times of Israel quoted a report published in the New York Times citing Israeli officials, saying that-
“The IDF waited weeks to strike Rafa’a Salameh’s compound hoping that Deif would meet him there —
This supposition rested on leaked information that the Hamas military chief would likely join his close ally at some point due to health problems that necessitated him surfacing to breathe fresh air.
Israel was monitoring Rafa’a Salameh, the commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade, for weeks before striking his location on Saturday, hoping that the terror group’s military commander Muhammad Deif would show up there.
Israel believes Deif did so on Saturday, leading to the strike that killed Salameh, though Deif’s fate remains unknown.
Hamas has claimed some 90 people were killed in the strike and accused Israel of carrying out a “horrifying massacre” against civilians. Israeli security officials have said many of those killed were Hamas operatives, with the strike conducted in a cordoned-off area used by the organisation.
Israel had been monitoring the compound in the Al-Mawasi area, where Salameh’s family owned a villa, for several months and knew that the Khan Younis brigade commander was present at the site.
Deif and Salameh had a close relationship, the IDF said on Sunday, describing Salameh as one of the “closest associates” of the leader of Hamas’s Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
Salameh was reported to have been at the compound for significant periods in recent months, along with his family and other Hamas operatives, as IDF troops advanced on most of his other Khan Younis strongholds. The ‘unnamed’ Israeli officials told the Times that Salameh was often underground in the tunnels, but found the sprawling underground network stifling, which accounted for his willingness to spend time above ground.
The compound was located in the middle of an olive grove, with low buildings, sheds and tarpaulins purportedly meant to prevent drones from spotting it. Apparently, Hamas believed Israeli forces wouldn’t suspect the location due to its relative exposure, and would also be unlikely to strike it due to its proximity to tent camps of displaced Palestinians.
The New York Times said Israeli intelligence officers received the first indication that Deif had arrived at the compound on Friday, at which point Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed off on plans to launch the strike. At 10 a.m. the next morning, after the IDF received further confirmation that Deif was present, fighter jets took off for Gaza.
After the strike military sources said several dozen Hamas operatives were in the area when it was targeted, including Deif and Salameh’s guards. Nevertheless, some uninvolved bystanders were likely killed and injured in the strike.
Hamas has denied that Deif was harmed, while Israeli defence officials have said there is a high likelihood he was killed, but there has been no confirmation as of yet.
The IDF believes the intelligence indicating Deif’s presence at the scene was highly accurate, and that if Deif was dead, Hamas would attempt to hide the truth for some time.
On Sunday evening, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi conceded that it was “still too early to summarise the results of the attack,” which he accused Hamas of trying to conceal.
Saturday’s strike was Israel’s eighth attempt to eliminate the elusive terrorist leader, who survived several attempts on his life between 2001 and 2021. He was seriously injured in two of them.
Deif would be the most senior Hamas terrorist in the Gaza Strip killed by Israel amid the ongoing war, after his deputy, Marwan Issa, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in March, and Hamas’s deputy political leader, Salah al-Arouri, was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike near Beirut in January.
While there is still no official confirmation, Israel’s Shin Bet [General Security Services] has good reason to believe that Deif was present at the site of the Israeli airstrike and made every effort possible to ensure he wouldn’t survive. [904 kg of bombs struck the cordoned-off site where Rafa’a Salameh arranged to meet Mohammed Deif. According to Saudi sources, there was a breach in Deif’s security circle, and someone provided information on his movements to Israel. It is believed that Deif was meeting Salameh over the negotiations of a hostage deal or to issue orders for Hamas’ activities in Khan Yunis.
Since the war began in October, Deif has become the second-in-command of Hamas, and if his death is confirmed, it would mark the most significant loss of a Hamas leader since the conflict started. While Hamas released a statement that Deif was fine, there are rumours suggesting that his body is being held in a hospital in Khan Yunis.
Israel estimates that between 60-80 percent of Hamas’s forces have been destroyed during this war. Further to that, about 95% of its rocket capabilities are gone and most of its battalions have been dismantled. As of now, apart from Yahya Sinwar and his brother Mohammed Sinwar (most likely to succeed Deif), only the commanders in Rafah and Gaza City remain alive.
While some might argue that another head will just replace Deif, the reality is that his death will be a huge blow to Hamas. He was not just a leader but a symbol to the terror group who chanted his name in protests around the world. Deif had the ability to reshape a new generation of commanders and with him and his two closest deputies dead, Hamas will be weakened and unable to recuperate in the foreseeable future.
While many argue that assassinating Deif will have ramifications on the hostage deal negotiations, a former IDF intelligence director believes that shrinking Hamas’ leadership will make them more amenable to returning the hostages.
According to a i24NEWS report, CIA Director Bill Burns said that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is facing pressure from his own military commanders to accept a tabled ceasefire deal to end the war with Israel, a report in CNN said on Tuesday.
Speaking at a closed-door conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, Burns said that Sinwar is not “concerned with his mortality,” and instead has been forced to consider a ceasefire because of pressure over the suffering in the Gaza Strip.
The report said that this pressure has increased over the past two weeks, which have seen Hamas drop major demands, as well as lose key commanders in Israeli attacks.
Despite the continued Israeli assault, Hamas and other Gazan terrorist groups retaliated with muted capabilities, showing the fighting has shifted to a more insurgency-based resistance than a proper defence of the Gaza enclave.
Citing a source who was at the conference, CNN said that US officials believe Sinwar is hiding in Khan Yunis.
The CIA declined to comment on the report.
This comes as a high-profile Israeli delegation is set to travel to either Egypt or Qatar to continue negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release.
I’ve resisted the temptation to mention Trump and Biden at all. Too much is happening in our own backyard.
Take care.
Beni.
18th of July, 2024.
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