Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri is a Palestinian militant and a prominent leader of Hamas. |
He serves as the supreme military commander of Hamas’ military wing, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. |
Over the years, he adopted a nomadic lifestyle to avoid detection and targeting by Israel. |
Born to Palestinian refugee parents in Khan Yunis Refugee Camp in Gaza. |
He briefly left school to support his family before earning a science degree from the Islamic University in Gaza. |
Hamas was established by Palestinian imam Ahmed Yassin after the First Intifada in 1987. |
His ties with Hamas began in 1990 through his associates Yahya Ayyash and Adnan al-Ghoul. |
Deif was involved in numerous terrorist attacks against Israel during the 1990s. |
He led the abduction and killing of IDF soldiers Shahar Simani, Aryeh Frankenthal, and Nachshon Wachsman in 1994. |
Despite multiple Israeli assassination attempts, he has survived. |
Often called 'the cat with nine lives' by the media. |
After his wife, Widad Asfoura, was killed in a 2014 airstrike, his mother-in-law offered him her other daughters for marriage. |
In 2021, he issued a stern warning regarding the eviction of Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah, vowing retaliation against Israel. |
In 2023, he orchestrated Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, a surprise multi-front attack on Israel. |