MOHAMMED DEIF

Yahya Sinwar’s appointment as the top leader of Hamas formalizes a role he assumed in the early hours of Oct. 7, when the surprise attack into Israel that he helped mastermind ushered in the bloodiest chapter of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Thousands of mourners have converged around the flag-draped coffin of Hamas’ slain political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, in the emirate of Qatar as the fallout from his death in an alleged Israeli attack surged with breathtaking speed.

Mohammed Deif, Hamas’ shadowy longtime military leader and one of the alleged masterminds of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza, is said to be dead following an Israeli airstrike last month.

The Israeli military says it has confirmed that the head of Hamas’ military wing was killed in an airstrike in Gaza in July.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress in Washington as he sought to bolster U.S. support for his country's war in Gaza.

Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 60 Palestinians in southern and central Gaza, including a blast that hit an Israeli-declared “safe zone” crowded with thousands of displaced people.

An Israeli drone strike on a car near the Lebanon-Syria border has killed a prominent Syrian businessman who was sanctioned by the United States and had close to Syrian President Bashar Assad's government.

Hamas says Gaza cease-fire talks continue and the group’s military commander is in good health a day after the Israeli military targeted Mohammed Deif with a massive airstrike that local health officials say killed at least 90 people including children.

Israel's prime minister says “there still isn’t absolute certainty” that Hamas’ shadowy military commander was killed in a massive airstrike in southern Gaza.

The United Nations says it’s no longer able to distribute food aid in the southern Gaza city of Rafah due to lack of supplies and insecurity.

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees terminated a number of its staffers in Gaza suspected of taking part in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and other militants on southern Israel.

The Israeli military hit Rafah in southern Gaza overnight, residents say, as United Nations officials warn there are no safe places left in the besieged territory.

Since Hamas fighters carried out the deadliest attack on Israel in decades, Israeli officials have vowed to crush the Palestinian militant group and its enigmatic leader in Gaza.

A senior Hamas official says the Palestinian militant gorup has “no shortage of missiles” and could continue bombarding Israel for months if it chose to do so.