Mohammed Deif is a commander of the military wing of Hamas. He gained that position after the assassination of Salah Shehada in July, 2002. Israel suspects him of being a bombmaker and holds him personally responsible for the deaths of dozens of people in suicide bombings since 1996. He is considered the designer of the Qassam rocket together with Adnan al-Ghoul. He had been under Palestinian custody from May 2000 until April 2001 when he was released. Deif was the person considered the top of Israel's most wanted list for several years.

Despite initial reports of his death in an Israeli air strike on September 27, 2002, an Israeli official confirmed that he survived the attack.[1] He has survived five other Israeli assassination attempts, which caused him serious handicaps.

His senior assistant, Adnan al-Ghoul was killed by Israeli Air Force in October 21.

External links

• Profile: Hamas commander Mohammed Deif by BBC
• Official: Hamas target survives Israeli attack
• Deif wounded in 2002 attack by world Tribune