Israel twice unsuccessfully targeted to kill the top military commander of Hamas last week but he survived both attacks, according to several media reports.

Israel has named the Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif as one of its top targets, said a BBC report. Throughout the operation, the ongoing war-like escalation with Palestine, Israel has tried to assassinate Deif several times, the report said quoting an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson.

In the latest escalation between Israel and Palestine, at least 213 people, including more than 60 children, have been killed on the Palestinian side, while 12 Israelis have lost lives, amid the call for a ceasefire by world leaders.

Who is Mohammed Deif?

Deif is the head of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. He has reportedly narrowly escaped the Israeli army's efforts to kill him on several occasions, including during the last major conflict in 2014 when his wife and one of his children were killed.

He is the most wanted terrorist for Israel, also features in the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists of the US State Department since September 2018. At the age of 25, Deif joined Hamas in 1990 and subsequently became the chief of its military wing.

According to a report in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, Deif grew up in the Khan Yunis refugee camp. As a young man, he became friendly with Mohammed Dahlan, now a high-ranking figure in the Palestinian authority.

With the founding of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, Deif joined it as an active member in 1990 and became one of the major operatives in its military wing. He worked alongside Yahya Ayyash and Salah Shehadeh, both assassinated by Israel, beside Hassan Salameh who was sentenced in Israel to life imprisonment.

He is responsible for numerous killings and kidnappings in Israel.

In 1994, he became involved in the kidnappings and killing of three IDF soldiers. He, along with associate Yahya Ayyash, was also responsible for bus bombings in Jerusalem and Ashkelon, which killed about 50 Israelis in 1994.

Rise to power

According to Haaretz, Deif became the supreme military commander of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades after its leader Ahmed Jabari was killed in an Israel Air Force strike on the first day of Operation Pillar of Defence in November 2012.

Israel’s failed attempts to eliminate Deif

It is hardly the first time the IDF has tried to kill Deif. Strikes in 2001, 2002, 2006 and 2014 left Deif without an eye, cost him both legs and an arm, and killed his wife and two children, according to Israeli security sources, Daily Mail reported.

First Published:May 19, 2021 9:29 PM IST