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United Airlines<\/a> and Delta Air cancelled a number of flights to Israel amid escalating tensions as the government revealed its forces had eliminated Hamas\u2019 top military commander in Gaza.<\/p>\n On the 300th day of the war, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) said it killed Mohammed Deif<\/a>, leader of the armed Al Qassam Brigades and a key figure in the October 7th attacks, during a targeted strike last month. The news came on the heels of\u00a0Wednesday\u2019s assassination<\/a>\u00a0of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh during his visit with Iran\u2019s ruling Ayatollah, Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n \u201cA travel waiver has been issued for all customers who booked travel to\/from Tel Aviv before Aug. 14,\u201d\u00a0said<\/a> Delta in a statement on Wednesday. The world\u2019s most valuable airline is still reeling<\/a> from last month\u2019s unrelated CrowdStrike outage.<\/p>\n One of the passengers affected was Louis Fishman, an associate professor at CUNY Brooklyn and an expert in Turkish-Israeli affairs, who was due to fly to the country on Saturday and now was rebooked for August 7th.<\/p>\n \u201cI just got my United flight cancelled,\u201d he posted to social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hi Louis. You can get travel help from our Agent on Demand team here: https:\/\/t.co\/1v0Ztfdd80<\/a>. Or, if you prefer, you can also rebook your flight or view other flight options here: https:\/\/t.co\/wpawAefNMy<\/a>. ^AL<\/p>\n \u2014 United Airlines (@united) July 31, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Passengers flying with European airlines have been affected, too. Lufthansa ordered Flight LH682 bound for Tel Aviv to return to Munich as a \u201cprecautionary measure<\/a>\u201d while sister carrier Air Austria redirected its machine as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAfter more than six hours in the air, we\u2019ve arrived in Vienna with no clear direction on what to do next,\u201d one passenger\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0Israel Hayom<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Israeli Airport Authority, which operates both Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv and Ramon Airport in the Red Sea tourist resort of Eilat, could not be reached by\u00a0Fortune<\/em>\u00a0for comment.<\/p>\n Service to Israel has been repeatedly affected by the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza, with many airlines grounding routes from October\u00a0through March<\/a>. Flights were interrupted again in\u00a0April<\/a>\u00a0when Iran launched a fleet of drones and missile attacks that were quickly intercepted by Israel, the U.S., and their allies in the region.<\/p>\n Those drones were deployed after a strike on one of its military commanders on its Damascus embassy compound, viewed as a violation of its sovereignty. The killing of Haniyeh, who left his Qatari residence to attend the inauguration of Iran\u2019s new president as a guest, is viewed as an even bigger humiliation for Khamenei. Iran\u2019s supreme leader is looking to cement his legacy<\/a>, with many experts believing he hopes to pass his office on to his son Mojtaba following the death of rival Ebrahim Raisi<\/a>. <\/p>\n We can now confirm: Mohammed Deif was eliminated.<\/p>\n \u2014 Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) August 1, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Asked about the Ayatollah\u2019s threat to avenge his killing<\/a>, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pledged the U.S. would\u00a0come to Israel\u2019s aid<\/a>\u00a0in the event of a retaliatory attack.\u00a0<\/p>\n DAWN, a U.S. nonprofit founded by murdered Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi<\/a> to advocate democracy in the Middle East, warned the provocative manner of Haniyeh\u2019s extrajudicial killing meant America could soon find itself dragged into a war not of its own choosing.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had Secretary Blinken and President Biden telling us day in and day out for the past several weeks if not months that a ceasefire is imminent. A deal is just going to happen any moment now,\u201d said<\/a> Sarah Leah Whitson, DAWN executive director, on Wednesday. \u201cThe symbolism of actually murdering the person you\u2019re negotiating a ceasefire with cannot more clearly communicate a desire not have a ceasefire.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile Israel\u2019s hardline finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, ruled out any talk of a cessation of hostilities following news of Deif\u2019s liquidation. \u201cWe must not stop a moment before victory,\u201d he\u00a0wrote<\/a>, calling the collapse of Hamas now \u201ccloser than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
End of Hamas now \u2018closer than ever,\u2019 Israeli minister claims<\/h2>\n
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