(Dan Tri) – Mohammed Deif, the mysterious leader of the Hamas force most wanted by Israel, is said to be the brain behind the unprecedented attack on Israel last weekend.
Smoke and fire rose in Gaza after an Israeli airstrike on October 9 (Photo: Reuters).
Reuters quoted a source close to Hamas as saying that this force spent more than 2 years preparing for a surprise attack on Israel.
In a recording released over the weekend when Hamas fired thousands of rockets toward Israel, Deif said the attack was in response to Israeli raids on the Al Aqsa church in Jerusalem during Ramadan.
The raid sparked 11 days of fighting between the Israeli army and Hamas in 2021.
An Israeli security source said Deif was directly involved in planning and implementing the attack on Israel last weekend.
Sources close to Hamas said that the director of the attack, in addition to Deif, was also Yehya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza.
`There are two brains, but only one mastermind,` the source said, adding that only a few Hamas leaders were informed about the attack in advance.
The plan that Deif conceived included a sustained deception effort to make Israel believe that Hamas, an ally of Iran, was not interested in starting a conflict, and was instead focusing on economic development in
However, while Israel began providing livelihoods to workers in Gaza, Hamas quietly trained its forces and exercised.
`We spent two years preparing for this war,` Ali Baraka, a leader of Hamas, revealed about the planning process for the attack that killed more than 1,200 people in Israel and more than 900 people in the Gaza Strip.
Deif said Hamas repeatedly called on the international community to urge Israel to release Palestinian prisoners, but Tel Aviv rejected that request.
Leader `in the dark
A rare photo of Mohammed Deif, commander of Hamas (Photo: Getty).
Mohammed Deif, 57 years old, joined Hamas in 1987 and was held by Israel for more than a year.
This man was promoted quickly in the ranks and became known as the commander of the Qassam Brigades, the military branch of Hamas.
Deif is accused of being behind the attacks in Israel.
Mohammed Deif rarely appears or speaks publicly.
To date, only three photos of Deif have appeared in the media, including: one when the Hamas leader was in his early 20s, another when he was covering his face, and the other only has the silhouette of this man.
Deif’s whereabouts are secret, although he is most likely living in a maze of tunnels beneath Gaza.
Deif holds a science degree from the Islamic University of Gaza, where he studied physics, chemistry and biology.
For Deif, living in darkness is a matter of survival.
