Mohammed Deif, the leader of Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, had a long career within the Palestinian group and was wanted by Israel for decades.
The 58-year-old Hamas leader was reportedly killed in an Israeli air strike on 13 July.
The Israeli military confirmed on Thursday that Deif was killed in an air strike in the Khan Younis area of the Gaza Strip. Hamas did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Israeli statement.
Deif had survived seven previous Israeli assassination attempts, the last in 2021. In the months since the operation against Israel began on 7 October, Deif is believed to have directed military operations with senior colleagues from Gaza’s tunnels and back alleys.
Deif rose through the ranks of Hamas over 30 years, developing the organisation’s tunnel network and bomb-making expertise. For decades he was at the top of Israel’s most wanted list. Hamas sources said Deif lost an eye and was seriously wounded in a leg in one of Israel’s previous assassination attempts.
Deif, along with two other Hamas leaders in Gaza, is known to have formed a three-man military council that planned the 7 October raid.
Following the raid, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government vowed to kill Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s leader in Gaza, Deif, the head of its military wing, and his deputy, Marwan Issa, who was reportedly killed by Israel in March.
On 7 October, as Hamas fired thousands of rockets, it released an audio recording calling the Deif raid the “Al-Aqsa Flood” and signalling that the attack was in revenge for Israeli raids on the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
A source close to Hamas told Reuters that Deif began planning the operation in May 2021 after the raid on Islam’s third holiest site, which outraged the Arab and Muslim world.
“It was triggered by scenes and images of Israel storming the Al-Aqsa mosque during Ramadan, beating and assaulting worshippers and dragging old and young men out of the mosque,” the source said.
There are only three images of Deif: one of him in his 20s, one of him wearing a mask, and one of his shadow, which was used when the audio recording was released on 7 October.
Deif, 58, who was targeted by Israel, never appeared in public. So Palestinians were excited when Hamas TV announced that he would speak that day.
“Today the anger of Al-Aqsa, the anger of our people and our nation explodes. Our mujahideen, today is your day to make this criminal realise that his time is up,” Deif said in the recording.
A source close to Hamas said the decision to prepare the 7 October attack was taken jointly by Deif and Sinwar, who heads Hamas’ armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, but it was clear that Deif was the architect.
“There are two brains, but only one,” the source said, adding that information about the operation was known only to a handful of Hamas leaders.
An Israeli security source told Reuters that Deif was directly involved in the planning and operational aspects of the attack.
Born Mohammed Masri in 1965 in the Khan Younis refugee camp set up after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, the militant leader became known as Mohammed Deif after joining Hamas during the first intifada, or Palestinian uprising, which began in 1987.
A Hamas source said Deif was arrested by Israel in 1989 and held for about 16 months.
Deif had a science degree from the Islamic University in Gaza, where he studied physics, chemistry and biology.
His wife, 7-month-old son and 3-year-old daughter were killed in an Israeli air strike in 2014.
Haniyeh assassination
Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas Political Bureau, was also killed in Tehran, where he had travelled to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the new Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps announced in the early morning of 31 July that Haniyeh’s residence in Tehran had been attacked.
Iran and the Hamas Movement blamed Israel for the assassination, while Israeli officials declined to comment on the incident.
Haniyeh was elected by the Hamas Shura Council on 6 May 2017 as the head of Hamas’ Political Bureau, replacing Khaled Meshaal.
