On July 13, 2024, for approximately three minutes, Israeli warplanes did not stop dropping tons of explosives on an open area containing a small building in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, suggesting from the very first moment that the target was significant.

Hours later, Israel confirmed that the target was the commander-in-chief of the 'Al-Qassam Brigades', the armed wing of 'Hamas', Mohammed Deif, while Hamas vehemently denied this, arguing that the targeted location was a shelter for displaced persons from various areas of the Gaza Strip.

Destruction at a site targeted by Israel in Al-Mawasi near Khan Yunis on July 13, 2024, as part of an operation to assassinate 'Al-Qassam' commanders Mohammed Deif and Rafa'a Salameh (AFP).

However, about six months later, on January 30, 2025, 'Al-Qassam' acknowledged the assassination of Deif alongside the commander of the Khan Yunis Brigade, Rafa'a Salameh, and other leaders, including Marwan Issa, Deif's deputy.

'They thought he was in Gaza City'

Three Hamas sources tell Asharq Al-Awsat that the initial denial of Deif's assassination stemmed from prior information held by many of the movement's leaders who believed he was in Gaza City, not the southern part of the Strip, while some specific leaders had confirmation that he was in the south without knowing his exact location.

It seems that some Hamas leaders who publicly denied the news expected he might be in one of the tunnels, although one source stated that 'Deif did not resort to tunnels since the beginning of the war, and perhaps had to do so only once in one instance.'

The place where Deif was assassinated originally belonged to Rafa'a Salameh, the commander of the Khan Yunis Brigade who was assassinated with him, along with several of Salameh's children and Al-Qassam security personnel.

A photo published by 'Al-Qassam Brigades' of Mohammed Deif along with his obituary (Telegram).

However, Deif's final months before his assassination, and the details of how he moved through Gaza, remained shrouded in mystery. On the occasion of the second anniversary of the man's assassination, Asharq Al-Awsat asked Hamas sources about their information regarding how Israel identified him, reached him, and assassinated him.

Two Hamas sources confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the 'Al-Qassam Brigades' commander was indeed in Gaza City at the start of the October 7, 2023, attack and remained in the city, located in the north of the Strip, until days before Israel's full control over the Netzarim Corridor, especially the coastal Al-Rashid Street, which remained open for more than two weeks longer than the period when Israel occupied its eastern section, 'Salah al-Din Street'.

'Movement without guards... and interrupted communication'

The two sources, who reside in Gaza and were briefed on information provided by those close to Deif, confirmed that he left Gaza City alone, without his personal guards, and headed south to Rafah at the beginning of November 2023.

Another informed source from Hamas said that some 'Al-Qassam Brigades' leaders, including Izz al-Din al-Haddad, who later took command of Al-Qassam before Israel assassinated him last May, 'advised Deif before he left Gaza City to remain there, confirming their ability to provide security protection for him, despite the circumstances and the extensive security pursuit of him.' The source added that Deif 'preferred to follow fieldwork, manage the battles, and monitor any political developments that might relate to the negotiations file, which had not yet begun at that time.'

From right: Leaders in the 'Al-Qassam Brigades' assassinated by Israel in separate attacks: Mohammed Odeh, Rafa'a Salameh, Abu Obeida, and Mohammed Deif (photo published by the Israeli army).

The same source reveals that 'the interruption of communication in the usual manner led to a loss of contact with Deif for more than 4 days, after the intermediary who was supposed to wait for him to transport him to one of the locations could not be found; this forced him to head deep south toward Rafah.'

Over the course of about four days, 'Deif could not find any lead that would connect him to one of the safe 'Al-Qassam' sites, and due to the absence of his recent photo from Israeli intelligence and his image not being widely known among Palestinians, Deif was able to sleep in areas on the streets of Rafah, and once in one of its mosques without anyone noticing him,' according to the source.

During the final months of 2023, the city of Rafah was a site of displacement for more than 1.3 million Palestinian refugees, in the largest state of overcrowding 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 story of how communication with Deif was restored, saying: 'One of the field activists in Al-Qassam suddenly recognized Deif and moved him to a safe place, before taking him to Khan Yunis, and from there he was transported via another intermediary to the place where Rafa'a Salameh was located, before they moved together to more than one place, prior to settling in the location where they were assassinated.'

An unknown image of the 'Al-Qassam' commander

The source says that although 'Deif had been more visible among Al-Qassam leaders in recent years, as well as through his visits to military sites and other locations, Israeli intelligence could not obtain any information or form a true image of him. All they knew was that he was wounded, had at least his foot amputated, or suffered from a severe injury in one of them or in his hand.'

The source explains that 'at times when Deif was seriously wounded in two incidents, there were attempts to get him out of the Gaza Strip for treatment using a forged identity; however, those efforts did not succeed, and he insisted on staying in Gaza.' But another source said: 'It seems that in a certain circumstance, Deif went out for treatment for a short period and then returned to Gaza,' which is something the other source or other sources did not confirm.

According to three Hamas sources, Israel could not determine Deif's health status, nor even identify his image accurately until it found 'video clips and photos from occasions involving Al-Qassam leaders, in which the brigades' commander participated, which were found inside sites deep in the Strip after Israeli forces invaded.'

The sources explained that these documents were transferred to Israeli intelligence, which analyzed them, recruited hundreds of informants to try to reach him and distributed his image among them, in addition to analyzing it through artificial intelligence and feeding intelligence tools like drones with information from it, such as his voice in the last footage of him shortly before the war during preparations for the October 7 attack, which is 'the matter that led to reaching him and assassinating him,' according to those sources' estimates.