The Israeli army is focusing its offensive on the south of the Gaza Strip, where it believes Hamas leaders are hiding in the enclave. Israel also intends to track down leaders exiled abroad.
Their faces are displayed in the office of Yoav Gallant, the Israeli Minister of Defense, reports Reuters. All Hamas leaders, including those in exile outside the Gaza Strip, are “on borrowed time” And “condemned to die”declared, during a speech on November 22, the one who leads the operations of the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip. After a one-week truce, the Israeli army is now concentrating its offensive in the south of the enclave.
On Sunday, December 3, the Israeli army claimed to have “eliminated five terrorists” and aimed “terrorist tunnel shafts, command centers and weapons storage locations”. Its stated objective is to eliminate Hamas leaders, most of whom Israel believes are hiding in the Khan Yunis region. However, some of the leaders of the Islamist movement operate from abroad. Franceinfo takes stock of the main figures sought by Israel.
Mohammed Deif, the “brains” of military strategy
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The Israeli media nicknamed him “snake head”. Mohammed Deif, Israel’s number one target, has been the leader of the al-Qassam brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, for more than twenty years. On October 7, it was he who announced the start of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation from Gaza against Israel, recalls The world. One of the few known portraits of him is a face in a blurred photo dating from his incarceration in Israel in 1989.
Mohamed Deif (nickname meaning “the guest” in Arabic) was born under the name Mohammad Masri in 1965, in the Khan Younes refugee camp, in the south of the Gaza Strip. A biology student at the Islamic University of Gaza, he was the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood Student Union, the movement around which Hamas was created in 1987..
He would be the man who allowed Hamas to be able to launch ballistic missiles at Tel Aviv and to deploy battalions of fighters in Israel to carry out suicide attacks or kidnappings, continues The world. Israel also believes it to be the origin of the Gaza tunnels.
Mohammed Deif has survived seven Israeli assassination attempts, the most recent dating back to 2021, notes Reuters. During these attacks, he lost an eye and was seriously injured in one leg. He rarely speaks and never appears in public. “The movement is happy to have this symbol, this military leader who scares people and whose every statement we take seriously”analysis with the World Khaled al-Hroub, Hamas specialist at Northwestern University in Qatar.
Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the Islamist movement in Gaza
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Benjamin Netanyahu calls him “Undead”according to Financial Times. Yahya Sinwar is named as one of the planners of the October 7 attacks. Known as Abu Ibrahim, he was born in 1962 in the Khan Yunis refugee camp. He obtained a degree in Arabic at the Islamic University of Gaza, specifies the BBC. He is the founder of Majd, Hamas’ internal police force, which deals with internal security issues and tracks down Israeli intelligence agents.
He was first arrested by Israel in 1982 for “Islamic activities”. It was at this time that he gained the trust of the founder of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassine. In 1989, he was arrested by the Shin Bet, Israeli domestic intelligence, accused of having murdered twelve “collaborators” Palestinians, and is sentenced to thirty years in prison in Israel, says Young Africa. He was incarcerated for twenty-two years before being released in 2011, thanks to a prisoner exchange with the Franco-Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Micha Kobi, Shin Bet agent, had the opportunity to question him several times during his detention. He describes him as a man “cruel” : “He used a machete, a butcher knife and he decapitated his victims,” he says at franceinfo. “He’s the kind of man who can gather around him supporters, fans, but also a lot of people who are just afraid of him and don’t want to fight with him.”, explains to the BBC Ehud Yaari, member of the Washington Institute for Middle East Policy. His reputation earned him the nickname “butcher of Khan Younes”.
Yahya Sinwar is also described as a fine strategist. He took advantage of his stay in prison to learn Hebrew and read numerous works devoted to the greatest figures of Israel. Since 2015, he has been on the American list of international terrorists. While he often appeared in public in recent years, Israel now suspects him of hiding underground in Gaza.
Ismaïl Haniyeh, head of the political bureau, exiled in Qatar
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Ismaïl Haniyeh, 61, has been the head of Hamas’ political bureau since 2017. He left the Palestinian enclave in 2019, and operates from Qatar and Turkey, reports L’Orient-Le Jour. He has long advocated for reconciling armed resistance and political combat within Hamas. Known for his calm and calm speech, Ismaïl Haniyeh maintains good relations with the leaders of the various Palestinian movements, including rivals.
Born in 1963 in the Chati refugee camp, one of the poorest in the Gaza Strip, he studied Arabic literature and was active in the student branch of the Muslim Brotherhood before becoming a member of Hamas when it was created. , in 1987, relates The cross. When the first intifada broke out in 1987, he was imprisoned by Israel for three years, before being exiled to a desert area in Marj al-Zuhur, in southern Lebanon, with several Hamas leaders, says the BBC. He spent a full year there where he learned the techniques of handling explosives, suicide attacks and above all clandestinity, in contact with Lebanese Hezbollah.
Back in Gaza, he was appointed to the office of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas. In 2006, when the movement won elections held throughout the Palestinian territories, he was named Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, but was dismissed from office a year later.
Khaled Mechaal, head of the political office for foreigners
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Khaled Mechaal, also known as Abu al-Walid, was born in the West Bank in 1956, and left in 1967 for Kuwait. Opponent of the peace process with Israel, he is considered one of the founders of Hamas, reports France 24.
In 1997, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the Mossad, the Israeli secret service, to assassinate Khaled Meshaal, in retaliation for suicide attacks in Israel, details the magazine Time. Israeli agents enter Jordan with fake Canadian passports and inject him with poison as he walks on the street in Amman, the BBC reports. But part of the commando is arrested, and the Hamas leader falls into a coma, but does not die. The Jordanian authorities then demanded that Israel provide the antidote to save the Palestinian, in exchange for the release of the Mossad agents. This episode remains one of the most famous setbacks of the Israeli services.
Currently based in Qatar, Khaled Mechaal has been responsible for Hamas’ activities abroad since 2021. After the attacks of October 7, from Doha, he called on the Muslim world to demonstrate in support of the Palestinians and to join the fight against Israel, underlines France 24.