Copy in clipboard...
Hamas confirms death of its military chief Mohammed Deif
“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.
Israel had accused Deif of being one of the key architects of Hamas’ October 7 operation in the occupied territory, along with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed on October 16, 2024.
On August 1 last year, the Israeli military announced it had killed Deif in an air strike in Gaza the month before.
The military said fighter jets had struck Khan Yunis on July 13 and following an intelligence assessment, it can be confirmed that Mohammed Deif was killed in the strike.
He was killed along with one of his top commanders, Rafa Salama, the military said.
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 the Khan Yunis refugee camp in 1965.