Hamas confirms death of top military commander Mohammed Deif After several months

Hamas has confirmed the death of its top military commander, Mohammed Deif, months after Israel claimed to have killed him in an airstrike.

The Israeli military announced in July that it had eliminated Deif, but Hamas had not verified the claim until January 30, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

A spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, described Deif’s death as "befitting" of a leader who had spent decades fighting Israel.

“This is befitting of our leader Mohammed Deif, who exhausted the enemy for more than 30 years,” said Abu Obeida, the group’s spokesman.

“How, by Allah, could Mohammed Deif be mentioned in history without the title ‘martyr’ and without the medal of martyrdom?” he added.

Deif was a founding member of the Qassam Brigades in the 1990s and had led the group’s military operations for more than two decades. He was believed to be responsible for orchestrating attacks that resulted in the deaths of dozens of Israelis. He was also thought to have played a key role in developing Hamas’s tunnel network and bomb-making capabilities.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas released a rare audio message from Deif in which he announced the launch of the "Al-Aqsa Flood" operation. The attack on southern Israel, carried out by Hamas and its allies, was presented as a response to Israeli raids at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites.

In November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Deif on charges of alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. The ICC also issued warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over their roles in Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

Hamas also confirmed the death of its deputy military commander, Marwan Issa, as well as several other senior figures. These included Ghazi Abu Tamaa, commander of weapons and combat services; Raed Thabet, who led Hamas’s manpower and supplies unit; and Rafei Salama, the commander of the Khan Younis Brigade. Israel had claimed to have killed Issa in March, though at the time, Hamas officials had stated there was no concrete evidence of his death.

By Aghakazim Guliyev