For decades, Hamas mastermind Mohammed Deif evaded pursuit. Did an airstrike last week end his reign of evil?
Around midnight on Friday night, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar convened for a special meeting. A few hours earlier, the Shin Bet and Military Intelligence had received valuable information about the whereabouts of one of the most wanted men in Gaza, Hamas chief of staff Mohammed Deif.
The defense minister’s orders were simple: Eliminate Deif, with as many bombs and munitions as it takes. After eight failed assassination attempts, this time it seemed they would finally get it right. Due to his proximity to a refugee camp deep in the humanitarian zone, the IDF and Shin Bet estimated that the collateral damage could amount to dozens of casualties, but the decision was made to go ahead. The prize would be well worth the cost.
On Shabbos morning, the signal was given and several tons of bunker-busting bombs were rained on the site, destroying everything within a radius of several dozen meters from his location. There was only one goal: to ensure that this time he wouldn’t escape.
Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, a.k.a. Abu Khaled, better known as Mohammed Deif, was born in the mid-1960s in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. After joining the Muslim Brotherhood as a teenager, he joined Hamas’s military wing and at 24 was arrested for the first time, sentenced to 16 months.
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