Mohammed Deif

Mohammed Deif was born in 1965 in the Khan Younis refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip, which was then under Egyptian occupation.[1] His birth name was Muhammad Diab Ibrahim al-Masri; the U.S. Department of the Treasury lists a date-of-birth range spanning January 1, 1963, through December 31, 1965, reflecting uncertainty in the official record.[2] His family was originally from Kawkaba, a village east of Ashkelon inside what is now Israel.[3]

He adopted the name "Deif" — meaning "guest" in Arabic — because of his reported habit of constantly moving from village to village to avoid detection and capture by Israeli security services.[4] The Counter Extremism Project records several alternate names used in official and intelligence documents, including Mohammed Diab, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, and Mohammed al-Masri.[4]

Deif studied at the Islamic University of Gaza, where he headed the Islamist students’ union.[3] Various accounts describe him as pursuing a science degree, with coursework in physics, chemistry, and biology.[5] He was arrested by Israel in 1989 and held for approximately 16 months.[5] During the Second Intifada, he escaped or was freed from a prison operated by Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority, though the precise circumstances remained unclear in subsequent reporting.[5]

Deif became involved with Hamas around the beginning of the First Intifada in 1987, although another account places his formal entry into the organization in 1990.[6][1] He was mentored by Yahya Ayyash, known as "the Engineer," who taught him how to build rockets.[1] After Ayyash was killed in 1996, an Israeli government profile said Deif became commander of Hamas’s terrorist-operational wing.[3]

The BBC reported that Deif took command of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades in July 2002 after his predecessor, Salah Shehade, was killed in an Israeli strike.[7] He remained the Brigades’ commander until his death in July 2024.[8] Even as commander, he operated in near-total secrecy and was rarely photographed or recorded.[9]

The Israeli government profile characterized Deif as a student of Ayyash who remained actively involved in managing Hamas’s operational infrastructure even after going underground following repeated attempts on his life.[3] Hamas media continued to refer to him as the Brigades’ "general commander" during periods when Israeli assessments described him as badly wounded and his status as unclear.[10]

Israel placed Deif on its most-wanted list in 1995 and held him responsible for planning and executing numerous terrorist attacks, including bus bombings in the 1990s and early 2000s.[6] An Israeli government profile attributed to him a series of attacks in February and March 1996, including two suicide bombings on Jerusalem bus 18.[3]

The same profile and the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs attributed to Deif the 1994 abductions of IDF soldiers Nachshon Wachsman, Aryeh Frankental, and Shahar Simani.[3][1] The Jerusalem Center also attributed to him several Jaffa Road bus bombings in Jerusalem between 2000 and 2006 that it said killed at least 50 Israeli civilians.[1]

The Jerusalem Center credited Deif with responsibility for the 2006 cross-border raid in which two IDF soldiers were killed and Gilad Shalit was abducted.[1] The U.S. Department of State later described Deif as having directed the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, while the ICC’s arrest-warrant findings said the October 7 hostage-taking was intended to secure exchanges for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.[11][12]

Israeli authorities credited Deif with developing the Qassam Brigades’ rocket-launching, suicide-bombing, soldier-kidnapping, and tunnel-digging methods.[4] The U.S. Department of State, when designating him a global terrorist in 2015, described him as the mastermind of Hamas’s offensive strategy during the 2014 conflict.[11]

The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs attributed to Deif responsibility for obstructing a humanitarian ceasefire during the 2014 conflict by ordering additional rocket fire toward Israel.[1] A 2007–2008 Israeli government terrorism assessment reported that he had been badly wounded but that Hamas media continued to identify him as the Brigades’ general commander.[10]

Deif evaded or survived at least seven Israeli assassination attempts over roughly 25 years, earning the nickname "the cat with nine lives."[6][4]

Attempts were reported in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2014, and May 2021.[5] An Israeli government update documented a 2006 aerial attack on a building in the northern Gaza Strip that targeted Deif as a senior Hamas terrorist, though the report did not confirm whether he was killed or injured.[13] An Israeli intelligence profile stated that he was severely injured in a targeted-killing attempt on December 26, 2002, after which he went underground while remaining involved in Hamas’s operational infrastructure.[3]

In August 2014, an Israeli airstrike targeting Deif instead killed his wife, his seven-month-old son, and his three-year-old daughter.[5] Deif survived. Israel made two further attempts to kill him during the May 2021 conflict known as Operation Guardian of the Walls.[4]

For years, reports described Deif as partially or fully paralyzed, wheelchair-bound, and missing one arm and one eye.[4] Later photographs and footage reportedly complicated that picture by appearing to show him walking with only a slight limp and possessing both arms, although Israeli officials reportedly continued to believe that he sometimes used a wheelchair.[5]

On May 4, 2021, Deif broke more than seven years of public silence, warning that Israel would pay a "heavy price" if Palestinians were evicted from homes in Sheikh Jarrah and calling his statement a "clear, final warning."[4] Hamas launched 150 rockets on May 10 and more than 4,000 during the ensuing 11-day conflict before a ceasefire took effect on May 21.[4]

Israeli authorities identified Deif, Hamas Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar, and Marwan Issa as members of the military council that planned and executed the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack.[4] The IDF subsequently described Deif as having initiated, planned, and executed the attack.[6]

On the morning of October 7, as Hamas-led terrorists breached the border and entered southern Israel, Deif released a recorded statement announcing what Hamas called "Operation Al-Aqsa Flood." He declared: "Today the rage of Al-Aqsa, the rage of our people and nation is exploding. Our mujahideen [fighters], today is your day to make this criminal understand that his time has ended."[6]

A statement reproduced in a Knesset Research and Information Center analysis contained a direct call for mass violence: "This is the day that you make this criminal enemy understand that its time is up. [The Quran says:] ‘Kill them wherever you may find them’… I say to our people in occupied [pre-1967 Israel] – in the Negev, the Galilee, the Triangle, Haifa, Jaffa, Acre, Lod, and Ramla: Torch the earth under the feet of the plundering occupiers – kill, burn, destroy, and shut down roads. Make the cowardly occupiers understand that the Al-Aqsa Deluge is bigger than they think."[14]

The attack killed approximately 1,200 people and resulted in 251 hostages being abducted into Gaza.[6] Deif publicly framed the operation as a response to the Gaza blockade, Israeli security operations in the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria — and events at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem.[4]

The Knesset Research and Information Center cited Deif’s statement as evidence of Hamas’s intent while separately describing Sinwar as the principal mastermind of the assault.[14] A U.S. indictment charged Deif with conspiracy to murder U.S. citizens, conspiracy to finance terrorism, conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction resulting in death, and conspiracy to support terrorism resulting in death. The indictment was unsealed on September 3, 2024.[4]

On July 13, 2024, the Israel Defense Forces struck a building near the al-Mawasi humanitarian zone and Khan Younis in southern Gaza, targeting Deif and Rafa’a Salameh, commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade.[8] The IDF confirmed Salameh’s death the following day.[8] Deif’s fate was initially uncertain: Hamas denied that he had been killed, and Israel could not immediately confirm his death.[4]

On July 21, 2024, an IDF spokesperson said that all available intelligence indicated Deif had died in the strike.[4] The IDF and Shin Bet formally announced on August 1, following an intelligence examination, that Deif had been killed.[8] The IDF described him as "the commander of the military arm and number two in the terrorist organization Hamas in Gaza."[8] Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called him the "Osama Bin Laden of Gaza."[8]

Hamas did not officially acknowledge Deif’s death until January 30, 2025, more than six months after the strike. Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida confirmed his death in a video statement issued as the organization acknowledged the deaths of several commanders after more than 15 months of silence about their whereabouts.[9] Earlier reporting said Hamas had experienced difficulty confirming Deif’s death because of the condition of the remains and that two individuals, including Deif’s courier, had been arrested on suspicion of helping Israel locate him.[15]

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri on November 21, 2024. It found reasonable grounds to believe he was responsible for crimes against humanity and war crimes including murder, extermination, torture, cruel treatment, rape and other sexual violence, hostage-taking, and outrages upon personal dignity as part of a widespread and systematic attack against Israel’s civilian population.[12] When the warrant was issued, the ICC said it could not determine whether Deif was alive or dead.[12]

On February 26, 2025, after prosecutors submitted "sufficient and reliable information" confirming his death, the ICC terminated the proceedings and rendered the warrant ineffective. The court left open the possibility of reopening proceedings if credible evidence emerged that he remained alive.[16]

The U.S. Department of State designated Deif a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on September 8, 2015, under Executive Order 13224.[11] On the same date, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added him to its Specially Designated Nationals list.[2] The State Department described him as the top commander of the Qassam Brigades, known for deploying suicide bombers and directing the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, and called him the mastermind of Hamas’s offensive strategy during the 2014 conflict.[11]

The Treasury listing recorded the variants "Al-Dayf, Muhammad" and "Al-Masri, Mohammed," gave his place of birth as Khan Younis, Gaza, and listed a date-of-birth range from January 1, 1963, through December 31, 1965.[2]

The European Union added Deif to its terrorist list on December 8, 2023.[4] On February 1, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a sealed indictment charging Deif and five other senior Hamas leaders in connection with October 7; it was unsealed on September 3, 2024.[4] The charges included conspiracy to murder U.S. citizens, finance terrorism, use weapons of mass destruction resulting in death, and support terrorism resulting in death.[4] Contemporary reporting placed the beginning of Deif’s command in July 2002, and the IDF identified him as commander of Hamas’s military wing at the time of his death.[7][8]

The Jerusalem Center for Foreign and Defense Affairs argues that Deif and Yahya Sinwar maintained contacts with Qasem Soleimani, the former commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, and with Soleimani’s successor, Esmail Ghaani.[17] It also states that Hamas engineers working under Deif maintained connections with the IRGC. These claims form part of the Jerusalem Center’s broader assessment that Hamas relied on Iran for funds, weaponry, and training, and they were not independently corroborated in the other cited sources.[17]

Over more than two decades as commander of the Qassam Brigades, Deif was credited with developing Hamas’s tunnel-digging, rocket-launching, suicide-bombing, and soldier-kidnapping capabilities.[4] The U.S. State Department described him as the mastermind of Hamas’s offensive strategy in the 2014 conflict, while the IDF attributed to him the initiation, planning, and execution of the October 7 attack.[11][6]

His repeated survival of Israeli targeting made him a symbolic figure among Hamas supporters. The Jerusalem Center reported that many Palestinians viewed him as a "living martyr," while the nickname "the cat with nine lives" reflected his survival of repeated attempts on his life.[1][4] He remained in command after the 2014 strike that killed his wife and two young children and maintained a deliberately concealed public profile until his death.[5][9]

His death removed the commander whom the IDF described as Hamas’s number two in Gaza after Yahya Sinwar.[8] The secrecy surrounding his status persisted after the strike: Israel confirmed his death in August 2024, the ICC said in November that it could not determine whether he was alive, and Hamas did not acknowledge his death until January 2025.[8][12] The ICC subsequently terminated its proceedings against him after receiving information confirming his death.[16]

Several facts surrounding Deif’s biography rest on intelligence assessments, single-source reporting, or contested claims rather than independently corroborated evidence. His birth year appears in different sources as 1965 or within a range of 1963–1965, and his name appears in numerous variant transliterations across official records.[2][1] Accounts of the number of Israeli assassination attempts and the nature of his resulting injuries also differ: some sources described him as paralyzed, wheelchair-bound, and missing an arm and an eye, while later photographic and video evidence reportedly showed him walking and possessing both arms.[4][5]

The circumstances of his escape or release from Palestinian Authority custody during the Second Intifada were reported as unclear.[5] Attributions of the 1994 soldier abductions, the 1996 bus bombings, and several later attacks to Deif’s personal direction derive principally from Israeli intelligence and research-source assessments rather than completed criminal trials.[3][1]

The ICC arrest warrant issued in November 2024 represented allegations and reasonable-grounds findings, not a criminal conviction. Proceedings were terminated after his death was confirmed, so no trial verdict was reached on the underlying allegations.[16][12]

Claims regarding Deif’s contacts with Iranian officials reflect the analytical assessment of the Jerusalem Center for Foreign and Defense Affairs and have not been independently established in the other cited sources.[17]