Mohammed Deif, the leader of Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing
Mardawi stressed that Deif is fine and is following the Israeli allegations of his assassination.
Senior Hamas official Izzat Al-Rishq also refused to confirm Israel’s announcement.
“Confirming or denying the martyrdom of any Al-Qassam commander is the responsibility of the leadership of Al-Qassam or Hamas movement,” Al-Rishq said in a statement.
“Unless either one of them announces it, no news published in the media or by any other parties can be confirmed,” he added.
The Israeli occupation army on Thursday announced that Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif had been killed in a strike it carried out last July in Gaza's southern area of Khan Younis.
Israel targeted Deif in a 13 July strike that hit a compound on the outskirts of Khan Younis, but there had been no immediate confirmation that he was killed. More than 90 other people, including displaced civilians in nearby tents, were killed in the strike.
The occupation army claimed that its intelligence indicating that Deif arrived at a compound belonging to Rafa'a Salameh, the commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade, was highly accurate and that the pair were together in the building that was hit by several heavy munitions.
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