Mohammed Deif is the latest high-profile Hamas member to be killed by Israel during its war in Gaza [Getty/file photo]
Hamas confirmed on Thursday the death of its military chief Mohammed Deif, the head of the Palestinian group’s military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.
“The Al-Qassam Brigades announce to our great people the martyrdom of a group of distinguished fighters and heroic commanders,” Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing, announced in a video statement, naming “commander Mohammed Deif, chief of staff of the Al-Qassam Brigades (and) commander Marwan Issa, deputy chief of staff” among them.
The Hamas military commander was first thought to be dead in July last year following a deadly strike on Gaza that killed 90 Palestinians. The military said fighter jets had struck Khan Younis on July 13 and “following an intelligence assessment, it can be confirmed that Mohammed Deif was eliminated in the strike”.
He was killed along with one of his top commanders, Rafa Salama, the military said.
On August 1 last year, the Israeli military announced it had killed Deif, but Hamas did not confirm his death until Thursday.
Israel had accused Deif of being one of the key architects of October 7, along with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed on October 16, 2024.
“Deif initiated, planned, and executed the October 7th massacre,” the military added.
Deif became head of Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, in 2002.
Deif, whose real name is Mohammed Diab al-Masri, was born in 1965 in a Khan Younis refugee camp, which was one of many set up for Palestinians forcibly displaced during the 1948 Nakba, which paved the way for the creation of Israel.
Deif first joined Hamas in 1987, during the first Intifada, and had been arrested and jailed by Israeli forces in 1989.
He had been on Israel’s “most wanted list” for years. He also survived Israel’s many assassination attempts, earning him the nickname “the cat with nine lives”.
In videos, Deif had appeared masked or shown in silhouette, and photos of him were rare.
In January 2024, Israel released a picture of Deif showing him with one eye missing, without specifying when it was taken.
In 2014, Israel launched an air strike on Gaza, killing Deif’s wife and a seven-month-old son.
In May, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court requested a warrant for his arrest, along with Sinwar, for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Until Thursday, Hamas had not confirmed his death.
