Hamas armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, introduced on Thursday night time the killing of its army chief Deif and deputy army commander Marwan Issa in fight.
Israel initially introduced in August 2024 that Deif had been killed in a July air assault. However Hamas denied the information on the time, telling reporters that Deif was “effectively and immediately overseeing” the group’s operations.
In accordance with the Israeli army, Issa was killed in March final yr. On the time, senior Hamas officers informed Al Jazeera that the group’s political bureau had not acquired proof of Issa’s demise.
Chief of al-Qassam Brigades Abu Obeida Abu Obeida has additionally confirmed the killing of a number of different Hamas army commanders, together with Ghazi Abu Tamaa, the commander of weapons and fight providers, Raed Thabet, commander of manpower and head of provides unit, and Rafei Salama, the commander of the Khan Younis Brigade.
Deif was one of many founders of Hamas’s army wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, within the Nineteen Nineties and led the drive for greater than 20 years. Deif was additionally believed to have developed the group’s community of tunnels and its bomb-making experience.
In August 2014, Deif’s spouse and seven-month-old son have been killed in an Israeli air strike that focused a home in Gaza the place the household was staying.
In accordance with stories, Deif misplaced an eye fixed and sustained severe accidents in a single leg in considered one of Israel’s assassination makes an attempt. His survival whereas operating Hamas’s armed wing turned him right into a people hero amongst Palestinians.
On the morning of October 7, 2023, Hamas issued a uncommon voice recording of Deif saying the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation, signalling the assaults that day on southern Israel have been payback for Israeli raids at Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest website.
