Tel Aviv, Dec 23 (IANS): The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that it has destroyed the house of Mohammed Deif, the military head of the Hamas militant group.

According to the IDF, Deif along with another Hamas top leader Yahya Sinwar is the mastermind behind the October 7 massacre in South Israel. Hamas terrorists slaughtered 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 240 people, including foreign nationals.

The 82nd battalion of the Israel Army‘s 7th Brigade conducted the raid and later did a controlled explosion to destroy the home of Deif.

The forces also recovered the Palestinian Identity card of Deif as well as several documents, including the personal diary of the fugitive leader.

It may be noted that the IDF had dropped leaflets in the Gaza strip announcing a reward of USD 1,00,000 to anyone who provided information on Mohammed Deif.

There were seven assassination attempts on the life of Mohammed Deif and four of these were during the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas. There were reports that several of his close relatives were killed during earlier assassination bids.