Deif, who had been wanted by Israel for three decades, was the architect of the October 7 massacre alongside Hamas’s Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar, and the “chief of staff” of Hamas’s terrorist army. And, as he made clear in that recording, he was hoping the invasion would spark a murderous uprising inside Israel, notably in Jerusalem, and an ongoing wave of attacks across Israel’s borders, leading to Israel’s destruction.
As of this writing, it is not definitively known whether Deif, who reportedly survived seven Israeli attempts on his life, was killed in the eighth, in southern Gaza on Saturday morning.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday night that it was not yet “absolutely certain” Deif is dead; Hamas is adamant that he isn’t.
The Israeli assessment is that if Deif was present in what the IDF said was a fenced-off Hamas compound with dozens of Hamas gunmen in the al-Mawasi area, characteristically exploiting the surrounding Israeli-designated humanitarian zone, then neither he nor his deputy, Rafa’a Salameh, would have survived.
The strike was facilitated through real-time Israeli intelligence gathering. Whether or not a body is found, sooner or later intelligence confirmation of his fate is likely.
Decades in the shadows
If Deif has been eliminated, this would constitute a hugely significant blow to Hamas — emblematically and practically.
Deif had long since achieved near-mythical status among his admirers and supporters, and was Israel’s prime Gaza target. He has symbolized Hamas and its genocidal anti-Israel ideology in Gaza — more so, and for far longer, than Sinwar.
While Sinwar was out and about in public, Deif knew that he dare not show his face. Indeed, that face has not been publicly photographed for years; the latest of the few pictures of him, released by the IDF in January from digital files recovered in Gaza, is undated. READ MORE
