Mohammed Deif ( ar, محمّد ضيف ; born 1965 in

Khan Younis Khan Yunis ( ar, خان يونس, also spelled Khan Younis or Khan Yunus; translation: ''Caravansary fJonah'') is a city in the southern Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Khan Yunis had a population of 142 ...

), born Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, is a

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

chief of staff and supreme military commander of

Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades ( ar, كتائب الشهيد عز الدين القسام, , Battalions of martyr Izz ad-Din al-Qassam; also spelt Izzedine or Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades; often shortened to Al-Qassam Brigades, IQB

, the military wing of

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...

. He has been Israel's 'most wanted' man since 1995 for killing IDF soldiers, planning suicide bombings and kidnappings. The most recent Israeli attempt to kill Deif was during

Operation Guardian of the Walls Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

in May 2021. Deif's wife, infant son, and daughter were killed by an Israeli attack in 2014. The

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...

added Deif to its list of

Specially Designated Global Terrorist A Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) is a person or entity that has been designated as such by the United States Department of State or the US Department of the Treasury. An SDGT designation is made under authority of US Executive Order 1 ...

s on 8 September 2015.

Hamas

Deif joined Hamas in 1990 with the help of

Yahya Ayyash Yahya Abd-al-Latif Ayyash ( ar, يحيى عياش) (6 March 1966 – 5 January 1996) was the chief bombmaker of Hamas and the leader of the West Bank battalion of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. In that capacity, he earned the nickname ''the E ...

and

Adnan al-Ghoul Adnan Al-Ghoul (c. 1962 – 21 October 2004) ( ar, عدنان الغول ) was the assistant of Mohammed Deif, the leader of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. He was killed in a targeted killing along with Imad Abbas ...

, his long time associates. In 1994, Deif was involved in the kidnappings and killing of IDF soldiers Shahar Simani, Aryeh Frankenthal and

Nachshon Wachsman The abduction and killing of Nachshon Wachsman was an incident in which Palestinian Hamas abducted Israeli soldier Nachshon Wachsman from the Bnei Atarot junction in central Israel, and held him hostage for six days. The incident ended in a fai ...

. He was personally responsible, along with Yahya Ayyash, for the bus bombings in Jerusalem and Ashkelon, attacks that killed about 50 Israelis. Five suicide bombers he sent into Israel in March 2000 were killed by

Yamam The Yamam ( he, ימ"מ, an acronym for ''Centralized Special Unit'' , ''Yeḥida Merkazit Meyuḥedet''), also called in Hebrew and Israel's National Counter Terror Unit (I.N.C.T.U.) in English, is Israel's national counter-terrorism unit, ...

. After his release from PA prison in April 2001, he was involved in a 'wave of bombing attacks' that lasted several months during the second intifada. Deif became the supreme military commander of the

after

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

assassinated

Salah Shehade Salah Mustafa Muhammad Shehade صلاح شحادة (or Shehadeh, Shahadeh; 24 February 1953 – 22 July 2002) was a member of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. He led the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades military wing of Hamas, until his as ...

in July 2002. Israel holds him directly responsible for the murder of dozens of civilians in numerous

suicide bombing A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout histor ...

s since 1995, among them the

Jaffa Road bus bombings Terrorist attacks were carried out on two No. 18 buses on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem, in 1996. Hamas suicide bombers killed 45 people in the attacks, which were masterminded by Mohammed Deif, using explosives prepared by Adnan Awul. These two b ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. He along with

Nidal Fat'hi Rabah Farahat ''Nidal Fat’hi Rabah Farahat ( ar, نضال فتحي رباح فرحات, ) (8 April 197116 February 2003) created the Qassam rocket, a homemade weapon produced by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. After the Intifada, Farahat was arrested foll ...

and Adnan al-Ghoul played a key role in the attacks perpetrated in Israel. Deif has been the top of Israel's most wanted list for over two decades. In February 2006, some Israeli media argued that Deif would build an

Al Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countr ...

network in the Gaza Strip since he did not support the approach of Hamas. This claim, however, was denied by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

Assassination attempts

He has survived five Israeli air strikes, which caused him serious injuries and handicaps. Despite initial reports of his death in an Israeli air strike on 27 September 2002, an Israeli intelligence official confirmed that he survived the attack. His senior assistant,

, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on 21 October 2004. In the early morning hours of 12 July 2006, an Israeli F16 aircraft bombed a house in which high-level ranking Hamas leaders were meeting. Deif survived the blast, but severely injured his spine. After this event,

Ahmed Jabari Ahmed al-JabariAlso spelled Jaabari, Ja'bari or Ja'abari. ( ar, أحمد الجعبري; 1960; also known as Abu Mohammad) was a senior leader and second-in-command of the military wing of Hamas, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. He was widely ...

became the acting commander of Hamas military wing Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades . On 19 August 2014, the Israeli air force conducted an airstrike on a house in the neighbourhood of Sheikh Radwan in Gaza City that killed one of Deif's wives (27-year-old Widad), and two of his children (7-month-old son Ali, and 3-year-old daughter Sara), and also three civilians. Hamas denied that Deif was killed. In April 2015, it was reported in Israeli media citing intelligence sources that Deif survived the assassination attempt. During

in May 2021, it was reported that Israel military had tried to kill Deif twice in one week but that he got away at the last minute both times.

Quotes

In December 2010, the Hamas movement marked the 23rd anniversary of its establishment with an official booklet entitled ''The Path of Glory'' (Darb al-ezza), which includes statements by Hamas military leaders alongside statistical and numerical data on military operations carried out against Israel. Mohammed Deif wrote: "The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades ... are better prepared to continue on our exclusive path to which there is no alternative, and that is the path of jihad and the fight against the enemies of the Muslim nation and mankind.... We say to our enemies: you are going on the path to extinction (zawal), and Palestine will remain ours including Al-Quds (Jerusalem), Al-Aqsa (mosque), its towns and villages from the (Mediterranean) Sea to the (Jordan) River, from its North to its South. You have no right to even an inch of it."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deif, Mohammed 1960 births Living people Hamas military members Individuals designated as terrorists by the United States government Palestinian Muslims Survivors