Israel said it has assassinated the “right-hand man” of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

Rawhi Mushtaha, the head of Hamas’s government in Gaza, was killed alongside two other senior officials, Sameh al-Siraj and Sami Oudeh in strikes three months ago, Israel Defence Forces announced in a statement.

They were hiding in an underground compound said to be used by top leadership in the northern Gaza Strip, it added. Hamas withheld the announcement of their deaths to “prevent loss of morale and the functioning of its terror operatives”.