Hamas Confirms Martyrdom of Military Commander Mohammed Deif


Hamas Confirms Martyrdom of Military Commander Mohammed Deif

TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Hamas has confirmed the martyrdom of its top military commander, Mohammed Deif, months after Israel claimed to have killed him in an airstrike in July.

The Israeli military announced in July that it had killed Deif in an air attack, but Hamas did not confirm his death until Thursday.

Abu Obeida, the spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, described Deif’s death as “befitting.”

“This is befitting of our leader Mohammed Deif, who exhausted the enemy for more than 30 years,” he said.

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

Deif was a founding member of the Qassam Brigades in the 1990s and led the resistance group’s military operations for over two decades.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas released a rare audio recording of Deif announcing the “Al-Aqsa Storm” operation, which marked the beginning of Hamas-led attacks on southern occupied Palestine. The group said the offensive was a response to Israeli raids at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Al-Quds.

Abu Obeida also confirmed the death of Hamas’s deputy military commander, Marwan Issa, along with other senior commanders. These included Ghazi Abu Tamaa, commander of weapons and combat services; Raed Thabet, commander of manpower and head of the supplies unit; and Rafei Salama, commander of the Khan Younis Brigade.

Israel said it had killed Issa in March. At the time, senior Hamas officials told Al Jazeera that the group’s political bureau had not received evidence of his death.

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