Mohammed Deif
Mohammed Deif (
Arabic:
محمد ضيف ) Born in
1960, is a commander of the
Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of
Hamas. He gained that position after the
assassination of
Salah Shahade in July, 2002.
Israel suspects him of being a bombmaker and holds him personally responsible for the deaths of dozens of civilians in
suicide bombings since 1996. He is considered a designer of the
Qassam rocket together with
Nidal Fat'hi Rabah Farahat and
Adnan al-Ghoul. He had been under Palestinian custody from May 2000 until April 2001 when he was released. Deif was the person considered the top of Israel's most wanted list for several years.
Despite initial reports of his death in an Israeli air strike on
September 27,
2002, an Israeli official confirmed that he survived the attack.[
1] He has survived five other Israeli assassination attempts, which caused him serious handicaps.
His senior assistant,
Adnan al-Ghoul was killed by
Israeli Air Force in
October 21,
2004.
On
August 26,
2005, a man identifiying himself as Mohammed Deif appeared in a videotape released by the brigades. With most of his body in a shadow and part of his face blackened out, Deif spoke in a deep voice about the recent
Gaza withdrawal, praised the Hamas members who gave their lives during fighting in
Gaza and vowed to continue to attack until Israel's destruction.
In February 2006, some Israeli media outlets reported that Deif, unhappy with the truce announced by Hamas, decided to split from the group to join
Al-Qaeda cells being established in the Gaza Strip. However, this was denied by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. [
2]
In the early morning hours of
July 12,
2006, Israeli aircraft blasted a house where high-level Hamas leaders were meeting. Deif survived the blast, but severely injured his spine, which could leave him paralyzed [
3].
*
Profile: Hamas commander Mohammed Deif*
Official: Hamas target survives Israeli attack*
Deif wounded in 2002 attack*
Most wanted Hamas man appears in TV documentary*
Israelis Kill 6 in Attack on Hamas
