Exclusive
'VOICE OF TERROR'
FOR decades Mohammed Deif has lurked in the shadows, remaining a ghost that Israel could never manage to kill.
The anonymous "voice of war", who masterminded Hamas's surprise terror attacks on Israel and the mass slaughter of innocents, appears to be ready to get better acquainted with the world.
8
8
8
8
A man of infamy, terror and anonymity - he has long haunted the Gaza Strip as the commander of al-Qassam brigades, Hamas’s military wing.
And on Saturday as Hamas militants breached the border and waged war on Israeli civilians, a voice said to belong to the elusive figure was finally broadcast.
"In light of the continuing crimes against our people.... we’ve decided to put an end to all this.
"So that the enemy understands that he can no longer revel without being held to account," the sinister voice told his militants.
The one-eyed, wheel-chair bound maniac started from nothing but rode the tides of fury and terror to command the ruthless fighters responsible for the deaths of 1,000 Israelis.
"To Israel he was a demonic figure and among many Palestinians, he is regarded as almost a God," said Sir Ivor Roberts, former head of counter-terrorism at the UK Foreign Office.
"The last 72 hours will have elevated him to a much higher levels," he told The Sun.
"He is cynical and cruel... and his focus is on destroying the state of Israel."
Most read in The Sun
For decades, Israel has relentlessly pursued their Most Wanted man as he has moved in darkness, through underground tunnels and safe houses across in the Gaza Strip.
There are only two existing decade-old photos of Deif and he has not been seen in public for decades.
The Hamas chief was born Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri in 1965 and grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Gaza.
He would later become known as only Deif — which means “The Guest” in Arabic - a nod to his life spent on the run, staying with sympathisers and evading Israeli assassins and air strikes.
Little is known about his childhood, but it was spent enduring the grinding Israel-Palestinian conflict that has long scarred the Middle East.
Into the shadows
The shadowy figure has been wanted by Israeli intelligence since the 1990s when he first began establishing al-Qassam Brigades.
He is believed to have first joined Hamas in the late 1980s, hardened in his pursuit to wage armed resistance against Israel.
Deif began rising in influence and power and reportedly was a close confidante of Yehya Ayyash - a bomb-maker known as "the engineer".
The militant commander was responsible for a deadly spate of bus bombings in Israel in the 1990s until he was eventually assassinated in 1996.
But the bombings continued with Deif believed to be at the helm and hell-bent on revenge for the killing of his former ally.
Hundreds of Israeli's were killed in the suicide attacks that the terror chief orchestrated on buses and in cafes.
In 2002, he took over as leader of Hamas' militant wing, where he designed both their signature Qassam rocket and a matrix of underground tunnels in Gaza.
'The cat with nine lives'
Deif has spent most of his adult life confined to these tunnels as Israel attempts to target him from above.
He survived numerous assassination attempts throughout the 2000s, escaping some with life-altering injuries.
The 58-year-old is believed to have lost an eye, part of an arm and the use of his legs, according to Israeli reports.
One former Israeli intelligence chief said that after a successful 2006 air strike, no one believed Deif would ever function as a leader again.
He told the BBC: "But he recovered as well as he could. If you lose an eye, you lose an eye."
From there on, the terror boss earned the nickname "the cat with nine lives" as he continued to dodge Israel's usually ruthlessly successful Mossad agents.
Deif's luck appeared to be running out in 2014, when an air strike hit a safe house he had been hunkering down in.
It killed his wife, Widad, and their infant son, Ali. Israel finally believed they had killed Deif too, but it would turn out that he wasn't inside.
The 'voice of war'
The man who came from nothing has become a symbol to Palestinian militants, gaining in popularity with every time he outwit Israel.
He has launched himself into the upper echelons of Palestinian leadership and a key commander of terror.
The decision for Hamas to take at least 100 Israeli hostages, Sir Ivor Roberts states would have "carefully planned" by Deif "with the aim of securing the release of thousands of Palestinians".
The adviser to the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) said: "He knows full well that Israeli public opinion will put pressure on the government to pay a very heavy price in numbers of prisoners they're prepared to give up for even one Israeli".
He added that Deif now wields a "tremendous bargaining tool".
However, a former US ambassador to the UN says Deif is far from the only one behind Hamas's new reign of terror.
Mark Wallace, CEO of United Against Nuclear Iran, stated the other leaders of Hamas "cannot be separated from Deif, they are one and the same".
Yahya Sinwar and exiled leader Ismail Haniyeh, he stated, "together are the collective forms the Osama Bin Laden of today".
"It is the same as 9/11." And likening the situation to the hunting of al-Qaeda's chief, Wallace argued, "every single one of these terrorists must be rooted out".
READ MORE SUN STORIES
In terms of what is next, a colonel in the Israeli army’s reserves, Rosen, told the Financial Times that: “Deif has tried to start the second war of Israeli independence."
“The main goal is — by steps — to destroy Israel. This is one of the first steps — this is just the beginning.”
8
8
8
8