In a recorded message, the shadowy leader of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, announced the start of what he called “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm.” “Enough is enough,” he said in the message, as he called on Palestinians from east Jerusalem to northern Israel to join the fight. “Today the people are regaining their revolution.”
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Deif’s message was posted on social media and was the first time he spoke publicly since May 2021, when he warned Israel of a “heavy price” if it did not meet Hamas’s demands over Jerusalem.
Here is what we know about Mohammed Deif:
Mohammed Deif is the supreme military commander of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, a Palestinian Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip. He is one of Israel’s most-wanted men and has survived at least seven reported assassination attempts by the Israeli forces. He is also known as “the guest” because of his nomadic lifestyle and elusive nature.
Deif was born in 1965 in Khan Yunis refugee camp in Gaza, when the territory was occupied by Egypt. He joined Hamas in the late 1980s and became involved in the kidnappings and killings of Israeli soldiers. He rose to prominence within the Qassam Brigades and became its leader in 2002 after the previous leader, Salah Shehade, was killed by an Israeli airstrike.
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Deif has been in hiding for more than two decades and is believed to be paralyzed after suffering severe injuries in multiple Israeli attacks. The most recent attempt on his life was in 2014, when an Israeli airstrike killed his wife and infant son, according to Hamas. Deif has rarely appeared or spoken in public, and his voice was last heard in May 2021, when he warned Israel of a “heavy price” if it did not meet Hamas’s demands over Jerusalem.
In 2009, Deif was designated a terrorist by the United States. The US State Department has described him as a “key figure in Hamas’ military wing” and accused him of being responsible for “numerous terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians.”
Deif is considered a skilled commander and a mastermind of Hamas’s military strategy, which includes the use of rockets, tunnels, drones, and suicide bombers against Israel.
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