On Saturday, Israel carried out airstrikes on Khan Younis's Al Mawasi district, which, according to the Gaza health ministry, killed 70 and injured almost 290 people. Israel's Army Radio said the strikes targeted Salameh and chief of Hamas's military wing Mohammed Deif. Al Arabiya news channel reported, citing a source, that Salameh was killed in the strike.
"Yesterday (Saturday), following ISA [the Israel Security Agency] and IDF intelligence, the IAF [Israeli Air Force] struck and eliminated the Commander of Hamas' Khan Younis Brigade, Rafa’a Salameh, in the area of Khan Younis," the IDF said in a statement on Telegram.
The military added that Salameh was one of the people behind the October 7th attack.
On October 7, 2023, Palestinian movement Hamas launched a large-scale rocket attack against Israel and breached the border, attacking both civilian neighborhoods and military bases. Nearly 1,200 people in Israel were killed and some 240 others abducted during the attack. Israel launched retaliatory strikes, ordered a complete blockade of Gaza, and started a ground incursion into the Palestinian enclave with the declared goal of eliminating Hamas fighters and rescuing the hostages.
The death toll in the Gaza Strip has reached 38,584 since last October, while over 88,800 have been injured, according to the Palestinian enclave's health ministry's estimates.