Mohammed Deif | |
|---|---|
| محمد الضيف | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri c. 1965 Khan Yunis refugee camp, Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip |
| Spouse | [a] |
| Children | 6 |
| Education | Islamic University of Gaza |
| Nicknames |
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| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Hamas |
| Service years | 1987– |
| Rank | Chief of Staff (2002–) |
| Commands | Ezzedeen al-Qassam Brigades Chief of Staff |
| Conflicts | |
| Palestinian nationalism Factions and leaders | ||
|---|---|---|
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Map: Birthplaces or family origins Details below: p. parents from, b. born in, d. death. |
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| Flag of Hamas |
Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri (Arabic: محمد دياب إبراهيم المصري; born 1965), better known as Mohammed Deif (Arabic: محمد الضيف), is a Palestinian militant and the head of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamist organization Hamas.
Deif was born around 1965 in the Khan Yunis Refugee Camp in the Gaza Strip, to a family that fled or were expelled during the 1948 Palestine war.[1][2] He reportedly left school temporarily to support his low-income family, later graduating with a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the Islamic University of Gaza in 1988, where he had established a theater group.[3]
Deif joined Hamas in 1987, weeks after it was established during the First Intifada against the Israeli occupation, and later became known as Mohammed Deif, meaning 'guest' in Arabic, possibly in reference to the nomadic lifestyle he adopted to avoid being targeted. During the 1990s and early 2000s, he planned several suicide bombing attacks, including the 1996 Jaffa Road bus bombings. He became the head of the al-Qassam Brigades in 2002 and developed the group's capabilities, transforming it from a cluster of amateur cells to organized military units. He masterminded the group's strategy of combining rocket attacks on Israel with tunnel warfare, and was central to planning the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel that initiated the Israel–Hamas war.
Deif has been on the Israeli military's most wanted list since 1995 for killing Israeli soldiers and civilians. He was detained by the Palestinian Authority at Israel's request in 2000 before escaping months later. He has been targeted in multiple Israeli assassination attempts since 2001, surviving at least seven attempts on his life. His wife, infant son, and 3-year-old daughter were killed in an Israeli airstrike in 2014. The United States and the European Union added Deif to their terrorism lists in 2015 and 2023 respectively. In May 2024, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) applied for arrest warrants for Deif and several other Hamas and Israeli leaders for their war conduct.[4] On 21 November 2024, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Deif, along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.[5]
Israel claims that Deif was killed in an airstrike in al-Mawasi on 13 July 2024. Hamas has denied Deif's death. In early November 2024 it was reported that Hamas had privately acknowledged his death, but Hamas released a statement disputing the newspaper's report.[6][7]
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