Mohammed Deif, the man behind Hamas' attack on Israel

This is one of the few images of Mohammed Deif, the leader of the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. He is one of the main perpetrators of the terrorist attack on Israeli territory, resulting in at least 100 kidnapped and 900 Israelis dead on Saturday, October 7th.

Mohammed Deif has survived at least eight attempts on his life, including ambush attacks, bombings of safe houses where he was staying and rockets fired at his car, according to The New York Times.

The man who terrorizes Israel was born in 1965 in a refugee camp in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.

He is a legend among Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. His real name is Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Masri, but he is called Mohammed Deif because "deif" is Arabic for "guest" or "visitor." Additionally, the Hamas leader is a constant guest in various homes as he is always on the run to escape Israeli persecution.

After Saturday's attack, a recording was circulated in which Mohammed Deif justified this violent action: "Only in this way will the enemy understand that he cannot continue to feel safe without being held accountable."

In the midst of a raging war, and much more so than before, Mohammed Deif is Israel's most wanted man. Eliminating him would be a major achievement for Prime Minister Netanyahu to show off after the humiliation of Hamas' surprise attack.

The Israeli secret service has proven to be far less effective than is always claimed: it is unable to arrest Mohammed Deif for the time being and has been unable to prevent a major attack on Israeli territory.

A Financial Times profile of Mohammed Deif describes the leader of Hamas's military wing as "a quiet, intense man uninterested in the internecine rivalries of Palestinian factions" but who is determined to use violence to define the parameters of the Middle East conflict change.

According to the Financial Times, Mohammed Deif had long had an idea: to attack Israel from the Gaza Strip by attacking "enemy territory." On that historic Saturday, October 7, 2023, this happened with deadly consequences.

Mohammed Deif is also credited with building tunnels in the Gaza Strip that would allow Palestinian fighters to enter Israeli territory and carry out attacks. Tunnels that Israel has repeatedly tried to destroy.

His penchant for a certain theatricality (or showmanship) in the military operations he led is said to come from his time as an actor in a theater group at the Islamic University of Gaza, where he studied.

According to various biographies that have appeared in various media outlets, Mohammed Deif is said to have been mutilated by Israel's repeated attempts to eliminate him: he is said to have lost an eye, his legs and an arm.

The success of Mohammed Deif's military ideas within Hamas is seen by experts as the beginning of a new and dangerous chapter in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Hamas jumps into the fight assuming that Israel's response will be terrible.

Mohammed Deif is a supporter of all violent means in the fight for Palestinian liberation. An Israeli official said in the past Deif was the one in Hamas who promoted targeting high profile objectives with rockets, such as bus stops and Jewish settlements.

Amid the devastating landscape of war, much of Israeli intelligence efforts are focused on finding and neutralizing Mohammed Deif.