Israeli security officials said Sunday they were pretty confident their targeted attack against Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif was successful despite the terror group’s denial.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they’d been following Deif’s movements for a couple of days, pinpointed his location and carried out an attack on Saturday that would have been hard to survive. Rafa Salama, a Hamas brigade commander, was killed in the attack, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement, which didn’t refer to Deif.