Suicide Bombings and Underground Attack Tunnels: Who is Mohammed Deif?

Intro

Mohammed Deif is the military leader of Hamas, a widely recognized terrorist organization. He has played an active role in promoting terror and targeting civilians for over 30 years, after initially joining the organization in 1987.

Most recently, Deif played a pivotal role in conceiving, planning and executing the barbaric October 7th massacre, a brutal attack in which over 1,300 men, women and children were slaughtered. Hamas’ attacks on the Nova Music Festival and on a range of towns across southern Israel intentionally leveraged the most brutal tactics possible and shocked the world.

Mohammed Deif’s Background

Deif was reportedly born in Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip in 1965. From the moment he was born in Gaza’s Khan Yunis neighborhood, Deif was raised in an extremist Islamic environment and educated to follow the same ideologies. He initially joined Hamas in 1987 and began rising in the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades’s chain of command quickly.

Deif was in and out of Israeli prisons throughout the years but was released in exchange for kidnapped civilians, soldiers and bodies.

The terrorist is believed to have developed the “Over and Under '' attack method, created after the construction of Gaza’s security fence to protect Israel’s southern communities from Hamas’ terrorist activities. The method included the construction of underground attack tunnels for Hamas terrorists to infiltrate into Israel and the firing of countless rockets toward Israeli territory.

Deif was also known for planning suicide bombing attacks and was responsible for a series of such attacks that left 50 Israelis dead in 1996.

Mohammed Deif: Terrorist Designation

Deif was recognized by the United States as a terrorist in September 2015. In the statement, the United States flagged Deif as the top commander of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, noting his involvement in leveraging suicide attacks against Israelis and abductions of Israeli soldiers. Click here for the official terrorist designation of Deif and additional Hamas leaders.

Conclusion

It is because of extremist leaders like Mohammed Deif that Hamas' reign of terror continues to thrive in Gaza, directly harming the safety of Gazan civilians just as much as it does the safety of Israelis. You can learn more about the Hamas - Israel War here.