Mohammed Deif

Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri
Native name	محمد الضيف
Nickname(s)	Mohammed Deif (Mohammed the guest)[1] Abu Khaled (kunya) The mastermind (Palestinian nickname) The cat with nine lives (Israeli nickname)
Born	1965 (1965) Khan Yunis refugee camp, Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip
Died	July 13, 2024(2024-07-13) (aged 58–59) (unconfirmed) Al-Mawasi, Rafah, Gaza Strip[2][3][4]
Cause of death	Airstrike[5] (unconfirmed)
Allegiance	Hamas and  Palestine
Years of service	1987–2024
Rank	Chief of Staff (2002–2024)
Commands held	Ezzedeen al-Qassam Brigades Chief of Staff.
Battles/wars	First Intifada Second Intifada Gaza–Israel conflict 2012 Gaza War 2014 Gaza War 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis Israel–Hamas war 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
Alma mater	Islamic University of Gaza
Spouse(s)	Widad Asfoura ​ ​ (m. 2007; died 2014)​ [a]
Children	6

Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri (Arabic: محمد دياب ابراهيم المصري; (1965 – July 13, 2024; death claimed by the IDF; unconfirmed by independent sources), known as Mohammed Deif (Arabic: محمد الضيف), is or was a Palestinian militant and the head of the Ezzedeen al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamist organization Hamas. Israel claims to have assassinated him on 13 July 2024, however this is denied by Hamas.^[6][7]

Mohammed al-Masri was born in 1965 in the Khan Yunis Refugee Camp in the Gaza Strip, to a family that fled or were expelled during the 1948 Palestine war.^[8][9] He reportedly left school temporarily to support his low-income family, later graduating with a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the Islamic University of Gaza in 1988, where he had established a theater group.^[10]

Masri joined Hamas in 1987, weeks after it was established during the First Intifada against the Israeli occupation, and later became known as Mohammed Deif, meaning 'guest' in Arabic, possibly in reference to the nomadic lifestyle he adopted to avoid being targeted. During the 1990s and early 2000s, he planned several suicide bombing attacks, including the 1996 Jaffa Road bus bombings. He became the head of the al-Qassam Brigades in 2002, and has since developed the group's capabilities, transforming it from a cluster of amateur cells to organized military units. He had masterminded the group's strategy of combining rocket attacks on Israel with tunnel warfare, and was central to planning the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel that initiated the Israel–Hamas war.

Deif had been the Israeli military's 'most wanted' man since 1995 for killing Israeli soldiers and civilians. He was detained by the Palestinian Authority at Israel's request in 2000 before escaping months later. He was targeted in eight Israeli assassination attempts since 2001, the most recent of which came during the ongoing Israel–Hamas war, having survived at least seven of them. His wife, infant son, and 3-year-old daughter were killed in an Israeli airstrike in 2014. The United States and the European Union added Deif to their terrorism lists in 2015 and 2023 respectively. In May 2024, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) applied for arrest warrants for Deif and several other Hamas and Israeli leaders for their war conduct.^[11]

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