Hamas announces killing of top military commanders including Mohammed Deif
Hamas’s armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, announced on Thursday night the killing of its military leader, Mohammed Deif, and deputy military commander Marwan Issa in combat.
In a recorded statement, Qassam Brigades spokesperson Abu Obaida said, “How, by God, could Mohammed Deif be mentioned in history without the title ‘martyr’, and without the medal of martyrdom? And how could Marwan Issa, the brain of the Qassam Brigades and its pillar, die in his bed?”
Israel initially announced in August 2024 that Deif had been killed in a July air strike, but his death has not been confirmed since. According to the Israeli military, Issa was killed in March last year. At the time, senior Hamas officials told Al Jazeera that the group’s political bureau had not received evidence of Issa’s death.
Abu Obeida also confirmed the killing of several other Hamas military commanders, including Ghazi Abu Tamaa, the commander of weapons and combat services, Raed Thabet, commander of manpower and head of supplies unit, and Rafei Salama, the commander of the Khan Younis Brigade.
Muhammad Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, the overall commander of the Al-Qassam Brigades known as Muhammad Al-Deif was one of the founders of Qassam Brigades in the 1990s. Deif is also believed to have developed the group’s network of tunnels and its bomb-making expertise.
In August 2014, Deif’s wife and seven-month-old son were killed in an Israeli air strike that targeted a house in Gaza where the family was staying.
According to reports, Deif lost an eye and sustained serious injuries in one leg in one of Israel’s assassination attempts. His survival while running Hamas’s armed wing turned him into a folk hero among Palestinians.
On the morning of October 7, 2023, Hamas issued a rare voice recording of Deif announcing the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation.
