Israel attacks Hamas military chief in Gaza. Who is he and what does this mean for the war?

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Israel said Saturday it had attempted to assassinate Mohammed Deif, the leader of the Palestinian group Hamas’ military wing who has long topped the country’s most-wanted list.

The attack took place in a section of southern Gaza that had been declared a humanitarian zone by Israel, killing at least 90 Palestinians and wounding nearly 300 more, according to local health officials.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was “not yet completely certain” that Deif and another target of the attack, Rafa Salama, were killed. He also told a news conference that the entire Hamas leadership was sentenced to death.

Below is a closer look at Hamas’ military leader and what his death could mean for the war’s trajectory.

Who is Mohammed Deif?

Deif was one of the founders of Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, in the 1990s and has led the unit for more than 20 years. Israel says Deif and Hamas’ Gaza leader, Yahya Sinwar, are the main architects of the Oct. 7 raid that killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel and sparked the war between Israel and Hamas.

For years, Deif has topped Israel’s most-wanted list. He is believed to be paralyzed after surviving multiple Israeli assassination attempts. He has not been seen in public for years and only a few photos of him are available online. On the morning of October 7, Hamas broadcast a voice recording of Deif announcing Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood.”

Deif, like Sinwar, was born in the Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza in the early 1960s and is believed to have joined Hamas shortly after the Palestinian Islamist group was formed in the late 1980s.

In 1989, during the height of the first Palestinian Intifada, Deif was arrested by Israel but later released.

Deif was promoted to head of the Qassam Brigades in 2002 after his predecessor was killed by Israel. He is believed to have helped expand Hamas’s labyrinth of tunnels under Gaza, and is accused by Israel of planning attacks that killed dozens of Israeli civilians, including suicide bombings.

Deif is so elusive that even his appearance and health status are the subject of speculation. Some media outlets claim that he has been wheelchair-bound for years due to injuries sustained in previous assassination attempts, while others claim that he can walk unaided. His name, Deif, means “the guest” in Arabic, an attribution that supposedly reflects his tendency to frequently change location to hide from Israel.

The ICC prosecutor announced in May that he would seek the arrest of Deif and Sinwar, as well as Hamas’s exiled supreme leader, Ismail Haniyeh. The prosecutor, Karim Khan, said he would also seek the arrest of Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

What does this mean for war and negotiations?

Deif’s death would mark the biggest assassination of a Hamas leader by Israel since the start of the war, which would be both a major victory for Israel and a major psychological blow to the Palestinian guerrillas.

At a news conference on Saturday evening, Netanyahu said all Hamas leaders are “sentenced to death.” He claimed that increasing pressure on the group by killing its leaders would lead Hamas to agree to a ceasefire agreement.

Killing Deif could also help bring Netanyahu closer to a deal. The Israeli leader has said he will not end the war until Israel achieves its war aims, which include destroying Hamas’ military capabilities.

But killing Deif could also derail ongoing ceasefire talks, which appeared to have made tentative progress in recent weeks, and would likely widen the rift between Hamas and Israeli delegations in Cairo.

“For the Israelis, it could be the victory they have been desperately seeking for nine months,” said Khaled el-Gindy, a Palestinian affairs analyst at the Washington-based Middle East Institute.

But El-Gindy believes it will also harden Hamas’s position.

“Accepting a ceasefire in that context would seem like surrender,” he said.