“In the present day the craze of Al Aqsa, the craze of our folks and nation is exploding. Our mujahedeen (fighters), at the moment is your day to make this felony perceive that his time has ended,” Mohammed Deif, the chief of Hamas’ army wing, mentioned in a recorded message broadcast on Hamas’ TV channel Saturday because the militant outfit fired rockets into Israel territory from the Gaza Strip, in addition to breaching the border to ship its males into Israel and take again hostages. Hamas referred to as the assault “Operation Al Aqsa Flood”, sending throughout a message that they had been avenging the Could 2021 Israeli raids on Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa mosque, the third holiest web site for Muslims after Mecca and Medina. The Hamas assault, the most important in years, and Israel’s aggressive retaliation since have claimed hundreds of lives on each side.
In line with a Reuters report, whereas 1,200 folks have died and greater than 2,700 sustained accidents in Israel, as many as 1,055 folks died and greater than 5,000 had been wounded in Gaza after Israel declared struggle on Hamas and launched airstrikes on the area in retaliation.
In line with experiences, the Hamas assault was masterminded by Deif.
Deif mentioned the operation was in response to the “16-year blockade of Gaza, the Israeli occupation and a collection of latest incidents which have introduced Israeli-Palestinian tensions to a fever pitch”, the Related Press reported.
Deif apparently began planning the operation proper after the 2021 Al Aqsa raid, Reuters reported, quoting a “supply near Hamas”.
“It was triggered by scenes and pictures of Israel storming Al Aqsa mosque throughout Ramadan, beating worshippers, attacking them, dragging aged and younger males out of the mosque,” the supply mentioned, including: “All this fuelled and ignited the anger.”
The report additionally quoted an Israeli safety supply to verify that Deif was immediately concerned within the planning and execution of Saturday’s assault.
The US Division of State designated him as a terrorist means again in 2015. Little or no, nevertheless, is thought about Deif, typically described as an “elusive, “secretive” or “shadowy” determine.
ALSO READ | What Is Hamas? A Temporary Historical past Of The Palestinian Militant Group Israel Is ‘At Conflict’ With
Who Is Mohammed Deif?
He has by no means appeared in public, and only a few of his photographs can be found in public area, in line with the Reuters report. One in every of these photographs, that of his shadow, was used when his voice recording was broadcast on TV forward of the assault.
One-eyed Mohammed Deif is claimed to be a survivor of not less than seven assassination makes an attempt by Israel, the latest one in 2021. He has spent a long time underground, and nobody is aware of the place he lives, although it’s suspected that he could be staying someplace within the Gaza enclave that has a maze of tunnels beneath, the report mentioned.
In line with a Monetary Instances report, Deif was born Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri in Gaza, on the Khan Younis refugee camp, in the course of the Sixties. The area was then underneath the management of Egypt (1948-1967). Israel gained the West Financial institution and Gaza from Egypt within the 1967 Six-Day Conflict. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, leaving it underneath the management of the Palestinian Authority. Hamas established its management on the area after a 2007 coup, and later gained an election there to control it politically.
The Reuters report mentioned Deif studied physics, chemistry and biology on the Islamic College in Gaza and earned a level in science. He was reportedly the humanities, headed the college’s leisure committee, and even carried out comedies on stage.
Nevertheless, life took a special flip for him and he joined Hamas shortly after the outfit got here into being. Deif is claimed to have been the pinnacle of Hamas’s army wing, the Qassam Brigades, since 2002.
Within the audiotape, he might be heard talking calmly how Hamas had warned Israel many occasions.
“Each day the occupation storms our villages, cities and cities within the West Financial institution and raid homes, kill, injure, destroy and detain. On the similar time, it confiscates hundreds of acres of our land, uproots our folks from their homes to construct settlements whereas its felony siege continues on Gaza,” he was quoted as saying.
One of many homes hit by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza belonged to Deif’s father, sources advised Reuters, including that the Hamas chief’s brother and two different relations had been amongst these killed within the enclave.
OPINION | Hamas’s Insurgency And Israel’s Humiliation
Deif As Hamas Chief
In line with a BBC report, Deif survived 4 assassination makes an attempt in the course of the 2000s. He escaped each time, albeit with accidents, and a few of them had been critical. Quoting Israeli media, the BBC report from Could 2021 mentioned he misplaced a watch and limbs after an Israeli airstrike on a Hamas member’s house in 2006.
“Folks thought he would by no means perform once more as a frontrunner, as a army planner,” BBC quoted a former IDF intelligence chief as saying. “However he recovered in addition to he may. For those who lose a watch, you lose a watch.”
In line with the FT report talked about above, he had misplaced an arm and a leg too and was left in a wheelchair.
Amongst his enemies, the BBC report mentioned, Deif got here to be referred to as “the cat with 9 lives”.
The failed bids on his life solely enhanced his repute as he rose by means of the ranks inside Hamas, which got here into being within the late Nineteen Eighties when the First Palestinian Intifada, or rebellion, towards Israel started. The rebellion was towards the occupation of the West Financial institution and Gaza Strip, which Israel had captured after the 1967 Israeli-Arab Conflict, often known as the Six-Day Conflict.
Deif joined Hamas across the similar time. He was in his 20s across the time, in line with the FT report. Quoting a Hamas supply, the Reuters report cited above mentioned Deif was arrested by Israel in 1989 and he had spent about 16 months in detention.
The FT report mentioned Deif studied underneath Yahya Ayyash, who was a bombmaker nicknamed ‘Engineer’ and was killed by Israel in a 1996 operation. To avenge Ayyash’s assassination, Deif masterminded a collection of bus bombings in Israel.
In line with the BBC, it was in July 2002 that Deif took over because the Gaza commander of the army wing of Hamas. He succeeded Salah Shehadeh, the founding father of the wing killed in an Israeli missile strike, an report in The New York Instances mentioned.
Deif has been atop Israel’s “most wished” listing for many years.
In 2014, Israeli warplanes bombed a home in Gaza Metropolis reportedly looking for to assassinate Deif, who managed to flee like earlier than, although it was not identified initially if he truly survived the assault that left his spouse, their 7-month-old son, and 3-year-old daughter lifeless.
Reporting in regards to the incident, NYT quoted an Israeli journalist, Ronen Bergman, as saying how Deif had emerged as a “legend” for Palestinians. “Deif is the one prime army determine in Hamas to have survived so lengthy. The truth that he was in a position to escape a number of assassination makes an attempt and get better from extreme accidents has constructed him the picture and status of a bulletproof legend,” mentioned Bergman, who specialised in safety affairs.
The report additionally mentioned Deif was the architect who constructed the Qassam Brigades into the formidable pressure that it turned.
He hardly ever speaks. It was after a substantial hole that Palestinians heard his voice when the audiotape was telecast Saturday. The Reuters report mentioned Deif does not use trendy digital expertise, and never even good telephones. In his movies, he seems masked, or one can simply see a shadow of him.
“He’s the person within the shadows,” the report quoted its Hamas supply as saying.