Mohammad Diab Ibrahim al-Masri

Mohammad Diab Ibrahim al-Masri
name	Mohammad Diab Ibrahim al-Masri
other names	Mohammad Deif, Mohammad al-Masri
Personal details
brith year	1965 AD - 1343 SH - 1384 HA
birth place	Khan Yunis, Palestine
religion	Islam
faith	Sunni
known for	One of the high-ranking commanders of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas, One of the fighters of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades

Mohammad Diab Ibrahim al-Masri is one of the high-ranking commanders of Hamas who acts as the commander of the al-Qassam Brigades (the military wing of Hamas). He always changes his place of residence to be safe from Israeli attacks; for this reason, he is nicknamed Mohammad Deif (Guest).

Biography

Mohammad Deif was born in 1965, in Khan Yunis. We do not have much information about Mohammad's early life. He was born in 1965, in a refugee camp located in Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip. He studied biology at university and also engaged in theatrical activities for a while. It is said that he participated in numerous operations against Israel in the past 20 years. In the fifth attempt by Israel to kill him, he was paralyzed due to severe damage to his spine. Since then, he has delegated the leadership of Hamas's military wing to his deputy, Ahmad Jabari, who was killed by Israel in 2012. But it is said that he is still in charge of important decisions.

Military activities

He joined the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas in 1989 and the fighters of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades in 1993. Mohammad Deif is one of the close associates of Yahya Ayyash. He was appointed as the commander of this brigade when Salah Mustafa was killed in 2002. Israel considers him as one of the designers of the suicide operations of the Palestinians against the Israelis since 1996. He is also one of the three main designers of the Qassam rockets and was under arrest by the Palestinian Authority (PA); from May 2000 to April 2001. Also, he was in charge of digging a network of underground tunnels in Gaza. It is believed that Deif himself spends most of his time in these tunnels to escape the attacks of the Israeli army and leads the military operations of Hamas from there.

Attempt to assassinate

Israel has tried several times to kill Mohammad Deif,four of which were in the 2000s. He was severely wounded in an air strike on the house of a Hamas member in 2006 and lost one of his eyes and one of his legs. During a night raid by Israeli air force jets on a residential house in the Gaza Strip on August 19, 2014, three members of a family; including a woman and a girl, were identified among the casualties. Israeli authorities claim that the third person, Mohammad Deif, was the father of this family and one of the commanders of the 2014 battle between Israel and Gaza. The next day, the killing of Mohammad Deif was denied and only the death of his wife and infant daughter was confirmed. However, it seems that Deif is still alive. Because of Israel's failures in assassinating Deif; he has been nicknamed "the cat with nine lives" by Israel.

Enemy number one

Deif's avoidance of using modern communication technology has enabled him to escape from Israel's attacks. Israel considers Mohammad Deif Ibrahim al-Masri as its "enemy number one" and holds him responsible for the deaths of many Israelis.

Commander's message on the first day of the Al-Aqsa Storm

The commander of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, in a recorded message on the first day of the Al-Aqsa Storm attack, said that this attack was in response to the "desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque" and the killing and wounding of hundreds of Palestinians by the Israeli forces this year. He asked the Palestinians and the Arab Israelis to "drive out the occupiers and destroy the walls". He also added that this operation began to "make the enemy understand that the time of their oppression without accountability has ended". He continued: "In response to the constant crimes against our people, in response to the occupation and the denial of international rights and solutions, and in response to the support of the Westerners and the United States, we decided to put an end to the current situation, so that the enemy would understand that they can no longer continue their actions without paying the price".

Sources

• Iran Watchdog News and Analysis Website.
• Jahan News Agency.