2024-08-01 09:51:39
CTK
Updated 59 minutes ago
The bloody attacks on Israel on October 7 last year, in which over 1,200 people died, were orchestrated by the Palestinian fighter Muhammad Díf. On Thursday, the Jewish state’s military confirmed that the Middle East’s most wanted man had died in a strike in the Gaza Strip. He hid in a labyrinth of underground tunnels, did not allow himself to be photographed and did not use his mobile phone. He survived seven assassination attempts, the eighth time the Israelis got him.
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“After evaluating intelligence information, it can be confirmed that Muhammad Dif was killed in an airstrike,” the Israeli army announced the death of the head of the military wing of the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas.
Dif, who survived seven Israeli assassination attempts, rarely spoke and never appeared in public. There are only three pictures of Díf: one in his 20s, another in which he is masked, and a photo of his shadow that was used in the audio broadcast. Díf’s whereabouts were unknown, he died in the south of the Gaza Strip near the town of Chán Júnis.
A source close to Hamas previously revealed that the decision to prepare the October 7 attack was made by Dif together with the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinvár. But it is not clear who was the main architect.
The secrecy was such that Iran, Israel’s sworn enemy and an important source of funding, training and weapons for Hamas, had only general knowledge that the movement was planning a major operation. He did not know the timing or details, said a regional source familiar with the group’s thinking. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed that Tehran was not involved in the attack on Israel.
The plan to attack Israel, as devised by Díf, involved a long-term effort at deception. Israel has been led to believe that Hamas has no interest in sparking a conflict and is instead focused on economic development in Gaza, where the movement is the ruling force. While Israel began providing economic incentives to workers in Gaza, the group’s fighters were trained and drilled, often in full view of the Israeli military.
In his recording, Dif said in a calm voice that Hamas has repeatedly warned Israel to stop its crimes against Palestinians, to release prisoners it says are being abused and tortured, and to stop the expropriation of Palestinian land.
At the top of the most wanted list
The militant leader was born Muhammad Masri in 1965 in a refugee camp in Khan Younis, which was established after the Arab-Israeli war of 1948. After joining Hamas during the first intifada, or Palestinian uprising, which began in 1987, became known as Muhammad Díf. In 1989, Israel arrested him and Dif spent about 16 months in custody, a Hamas source said.
Díf earned a degree in natural sciences from the Islamic University of Gaza, where he studied physics, chemistry and biology. He had a penchant for the arts, heading the university’s entertainment committee and performing on stage in comedies.
Within Hamas, Dif worked his way up to the highest positions, building a network of tunnels and gaining experience in making bombs. He was at the top of Israel’s most wanted list for decades and was personally responsible for the deaths of dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings.
Photo: Wikipedia – Gringer (CC BY-SA 3.0), Aktuálně.cz
For Díf, staying in the shadows was a matter of life and death. According to Hamas sources, he lost an eye and suffered a serious injury to one of his legs in one of the Israeli assassinations. His wife, seven-month-old son and three-year-old daughter were killed in an Israeli airstrike in 2014.
His survival while leading the armed wing of Hamas earned him the status of a Palestinian folk hero. In the videos, he was masked or only his shadow was visible. He did not use modern digital technology such as smartphones, a source close to Hamas described. “He is elusive. He is a man in the shadows,” a source told Reuters earlier.
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