Secrets of Muhammad al-Deif's Final Months: Slept in the Streets of Rafah... and Moved Without Security

On July 13, 2024, for approximately three minutes, Israeli warplanes continuously dropped tons of explosives on an open area containing a small building in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, which immediately suggested the target was important.

Within hours, Israel confirmed that the target was the overall commander of the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, Muhammad al-Deif, at a time when Hamas was strongly denying it, claiming the targeted location was a shelter for displaced people from various parts of the Gaza Strip.

Destruction at a site targeted by Israel in Mawasi near Khan Younis on July 13, 2024, as part of an operation to assassinate Qassam leaders Muhammad al-Deif and Rafa'a Salama (AFP)

But about six months later, on January 30, 2025, the Qassam Brigades acknowledged the assassination of al-Deif alongside Khan Younis Brigade commander Rafa'a Salama, as well as other leaders including Marwan Issa, al-Deif's deputy.

“They Thought He Was in Gaza City”

Three Hamas sources told Asharq al-Awsat that the initial denial of al-Deif's assassination stemmed from prior information that many movement leaders believed he was in Gaza City, not in the southern sector, while certain leaders had assurances he was in the southern sector but without knowing his exact location.

It appears that some Hamas leaders who publicly denied the assassination expected he might be in a tunnel, while one source said that “al-Deif did not resort to tunnels since the start of the war, and perhaps only did so once in one instance.”

The location where al-Deif was assassinated originally belonged to Rafa'a Salama, the Khan Younis Brigade commander who was killed alongside him, along with many of Salama's relatives and security personnel affiliated with the Qassam Brigades.

Image published by the Qassam Brigades of Muhammad al-Deif with his obituary (Telegram)

However, al-Deif's final months before his assassination and the manner of his movements in Gaza remained shrouded in mystery. On the occasion of two years since his assassination, Asharq al-Awsat asked Hamas sources about their information on how Israel identified him, located him, and assassinated him.

Two Hamas sources confirmed to Asharq al-Awsat that the Qassam Brigades commander was indeed in Gaza City at the start and launch of the October 7, 2023 attack, and remained in the city located in the northern sector until days before Israel's complete control over the Netzarim Corridor, particularly its coastal Rashid Street section, which remained open for more than two weeks longer than the time it took to occupy its eastern part, Salah al-Din Street.

“Movement Without Security... Intermittent Communication”

The two sources, residents of Gaza who reviewed information provided by al-Deif's associates, confirmed that he left Gaza City alone without his personal security and headed south to Rafah at the beginning of November 2023.

Another informed Hamas source said that some Qassam Brigades leaders, including Izz al-Din al-Haddad—who later took command of the Qassam Brigades before Israel assassinated him last May—"advised al-Deif before he left Gaza City to stay there, assuring him they could provide security protection despite the widespread security pursuit against him." The source added that al-Deif "preferred to continue field work and manage battles, and to follow any political developments related to the negotiations file, which had not started then."

From the right: Qassam Brigades leaders assassinated by Israel in separate attacks: Muhammad Awda, Rafa'a Salama, Abu Ubayda, and Muhammad al-Deif (Image published by the Israeli army)

The same source reveals that "the disruption of communication in the usual manner led to a loss of contact with al-Deif for more than four days, after he did not find the intermediary who was supposed to wait for him to transfer him to one of the locations; so he was forced to head deeper south towards Rafah."

Over approximately four days, "al-Deif could not find any thread leading him to a safe Qassam location. Due to the absence of a recent photo with Israeli intelligence and his image not being widespread among Palestinians, al-Deif was able to sleep in areas on the streets of Rafah city, and once in one of its mosques without anyone noticing him," according to the source.

In the final months of 2023, Rafah city was the site of displacement for over 1.3 million Palestinian refugees, the largest crowding during the war.

Palestinians waiting to cross into Egypt at the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, November 1, 2023 (EPA)

Another Hamas source completed the account of how communication with al-Deif was restored: "A field activist in the Qassam Brigades recognized al-Deif unexpectedly, and moved him to a safe place, then transferred him to Khan Younis. From there, he was moved via another intermediary to the location where Rafa'a Salama was, before they both moved together to more than one place, eventually settling in the location where they were assassinated."

Unknown Image of the Qassam Brigades Commander

The source says that although "al-Deif appeared more frequently among Qassam leaders in recent years, including through his visits to military sites and others, Israeli intelligence could not obtain any information or form a true picture of him. All they knew was that he was injured and at least partially amputated in one leg, or suffered from a severe injury in one of his legs or hands."

The source explains that "during periods when al-Deif was seriously injured in two incidents, there were attempts to take him out of the Gaza Strip for treatment using a fake identity; however, those efforts did not succeed, and he insisted on staying in Gaza." But another source said: "It seems that at a certain point, al-Deif left for treatment for a short period, then returned to Gaza," an assertion not confirmed by the other source or other sources.

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According to three Hamas sources, Israel could not determine al-Deif's health status or even obtain an accurate image of him until it found "video clips and photos from events of Qassam leaders, in which the brigade commander participated, located inside positions deep in the sector after Israeli forces penetrated."

The sources explained that those documents were transferred to Israeli intelligence, which analyzed them and recruited hundreds of collaborators to try to reach him and distribute his image among them, in addition to analyzing them through artificial intelligence, and feeding intelligence tools such as drones with information including his voice from the last footage of him shortly before the war during the preparation for the October 7 attack. This is "what led to reaching and assassinating him," according to those sources' estimations.