7 Failed Attempts to Assassinate Mohammed Deif.. Has the Eighth Succeeded?
Before the latest assassination attempt that Israel claims to have succeeded, the latter had tried to kill Mohammed Deif, the military leader of Hamas, 7 times without success.
Earlier today, the Israeli army confirmed the killing of the military wing leader of Hamas, Mohammed Deif, in a raid carried out on July 13 in the Khan Younis area in the southern Gaza Strip.
Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied the death of Mohammed Deif as of now.
However, this “successful” raid, as described by Israel, was preceded by numerous assassination attempts on the number “1” target on Israel’s lists, the man Israeli analysts describe as the “ghost man” due to his ability to hide and evade.
Major Assassination Attempts on Mohammed Deif
Deif has survived several Israeli assassination attempts, the first of which took place in 2001 and failed. In September 2002, he survived an attempted killing carried out by an Apache helicopter bombing a car he was in, resulting in the death of two of his companions. At that time, it was said that he lost one of his eyes.
The attempt was repeated in 2003 when he was with several Hamas leaders.
In 2006, Israel launched a missile at a house where he was present with several Hamas leaders, announcing that he was seriously injured and had lost his legs and one hand.
On August 18, 2014, the Israeli army bombed a house in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, northwest of Gaza City, killing his wife, Widad Asfoura, and his infant son, Ali, but Deif survived the assassination attempt.
Deif, whose name is Mohammed Diab al-Masri, was listed by the United States as a “global terrorist” in 2015.
His real name is Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri “Abu Khaled,” but he was nicknamed Deif because, during years of being pursued by Israel, he was a guest at any Palestinian home.
The military wing leader was born in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip to a Palestinian refugee family from the village of Kawkaba. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from the Islamic University of Gaza, obtained in 1988.
Israel classified Deif as wanted in 1995 after accusing him of being responsible for the killing of Israelis in operations carried out by the military wing of Hamas.
Prior to that, he was arrested in 1989 and spent 16 months in prison on charges of participating in the founding of the military wing of the Palestinian movement.
In 2000, at the beginning of the second intifada in the Palestinian territories against Israel, Deif escaped – or was released – from a Palestinian Authority prison under the late President Yasser Arafat, causing great indignation among Israelis who placed him on their target list.
Deif was appointed leader of Hamas‘s military wing in 2002, after the assassination of his predecessor Salah Shehadeh in an Israeli raid. He has a long secret history that began in the 1980s.
