A request that this article title be changed to
Killing of the Deif family is
under discussion. Please do not move this article until the discussion is closed. |
The killing of the wife, daughter, and infant son of Mohammed Deif | |
---|---|
Part of 2014 Gaza War | |
Location | Gaza Strip, Palestine (the apartment where Mohammed Deif's wife and children lived) |
Date | 19 August 2014 |
Target | Mohammed Deif (leader of the Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades) |
Attack type | English:
Targeted killing Hebrew: סיכול ממוקד, romanized: sikul memukad, lit. 'focused foiling'. [1] [2] Arabic: مجزرة عائلة, lit. 'family massacre'. |
Deaths | 6+ [3] |
Victims | The son, daughter, and wife of Mohammed Deif, and other members of the household. |
Perpetrators | Israel Defense Forces |
Motive | "an image of victory" [4] |
Accused | Accused of being informants: |
The Deif family massacre was one of many during the 2014 Gaza War and one of the only cases where the intended target is known. It is now known that the strike did not hit its target, Mohammed Deif, the father of the family.
Deif joined Hamas in 1987, weeks after its establishment during the First Intifada. [6] [7] He was arrested by Israeli authorities in 1989 for his involvement with the organization. [8] After 16 months of detention, he was released in a prisoner exchange. Soon after his release, he helped establish the Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. [7] [9] Deif became the head of the Qassam Brigades after Israel assassinated Salah Shehade in July 2002. [10] Between July 2006 and November 2012, effective command was exercised by Deif's deputy, Ahmed Jabari, after Deif was seriously wounded in an Israeli assassination attempt. [11] [12]
Mohammed Deif married Widad Asfura ( Arabic: وداد عصفورة, romanized: Widad Asfoura), [13] [14] sometimes referred to as Widad Deif, [15] in 2007 [16] or 2011. Widad was already a widow, her previous husband was a martyred Qassami fighter. They had four children together, [17] and Deif has two other sons, Bahaa ( Arabic: بهاء) and Khaled ( Arabic: خالد). [18]
On Tuesday 19 August 2014, [3] Israel attempted to assassinate the chief commander of Hamas' military wing, Mohammad Deif, in an airstrike on his house in the Sheikh Radwan district of Gaza City, killing his wife and two of their children. [19] [20] The strike on the family home killed a 7-month-old baby boy (Mohammed Deif's son, referred to at the funeral as "Ali Deif", Arabic: علي الضيف), his 3-year-old sister ( Arabic: سارة محمد الضيف, romanized: Sarah Mohammed Al-Deif), [21] [b] and their 27-year-old mother (Widad Asfoura, Mohammed Deif's second wife), [22] [23] and three other members of the household. [3]
The strike, however, did not kill its intended target, Mohammed Deif. Israeli intelligence concluded in April 2015 that Deif had survived the assassination attempt, the fifth Israeli attempt to kill him. [24]
On the same day, the IDF. successfully assassinated 3 other leaders Muhammad Abu Shamala (41 years old), Raed al-Attar (40 years old), and Muhammad Barhoum (45 years old). [25]
Several thousand people attended the funeral of Deif's wife and son in Gaza, angrily demanding revenge against Israel and firing shots into the air. The bodies of Widad and Ali were taken from the wife’s family home to a mosque in Jabaliya refugee camp for prayers, then laid to rest in the sand of a cemetery. [22]
Deif’s daughter, Arabic: سارة محمد الضيف, romanized: Sarah Mohammed Deif, [21] was not buried on the same day as her brother because her body was not recovered from the rubble until Thursday, the day after her brother's funeral, and two days after the air strike. [20] [21]
A strangely flattering letter claiming to be from (Mohammed Deif’s in laws) was published in Palestinian media. [26] Israeli papers reported that Widad's mother did not regret approving of the marriage, and said she would do the same again. [23]
In addition to the rage in Gaza, some within Israel also criticised the strike. Gideon Levy, in his opinion piece "What Would Israel Do in Hamas' Shoes?" for Haaretz, asked how Israel would react if Hamas killed the wife and children of one of Israel's leaders. [4] Levy also pointed out that even if the assassination had been successful, based on past successful strikes on Ahmad Yassin and others, Deif would have been replaced, and by someone more extreme. [4]
The day after Israel killed the wife and two young children of Mohammed Deif - and assassinated three Hamas military leaders - the Qassam Brigades suddenly executed 18 suspected collaborators in Gaza. [27] Some were on trial for espionage, but those trials were suddenly cut short. From among the executed, 6 were killed by a firing squad outside a mosque in front of hundreds of spectators including children. [28]
According to an Amnesty International report, during the 2014 Gaza War, [29] [30] Hamas [c] executed 23 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. [31] Amnesty International reported that, most were executed by militants during the 2014 conflict, and 16 of them imprisoned from before the war began. [32] [33] Amnesty International claimed that "Hamas" [c] used the cover of the war, which had a very heavily death toll, [29] to carry out summary executions, to settle scores against opponents under the pretext they were collaborators with Israel. [28] [31] In 2015 they were accused of torture. [30]The killing of suspected informants may not have stopped after the end in the 2014 war. Some sources say that the first crime Mahmoud Ishtiwi was accused of, when he was arrested in January 2015, was giving Israel the location of Deif’s family residence, leading to this strike. [5] However, Ishtiwi was also accused of multiple other transgressions, including the embezzlement of 6 million USD from the Qassam Brigades' weapons funds, and several elaborate sex scandalous. [34] But the family accused the Qassam Brigades and Hamas of killing Mahmoud unjustly due to interpersonal disputes within the organisations, and of torturing him to death. [34] [35]
In his pre-dawn recorded speech on 7 October 2023, Deif criticised the occupation for violence against children and women, and listed it among the reasons for launching the attacks, but did not specifically mention his personal experience. [36] [37] [38]
"The Zionist entity has occupied our land, driven out our people, destroyed our cities, our towns and our villages, committed hundreds of massacres against our people, killing children, women and the elderly, and buried innocent, peaceful people under the rubble of their homes, in contemptuous violation of all international norms and human rights and rejecting international laws." - Mohammed Deif. [38] [36]
In 2014, the strategy of bombing family homes was allegedly only used on particularly high-ranking members of so called " terrorist" organisations. On the evening of 7 October 2023, however, Israel's "Where's Daddy" strategy was expanded to include even the lowest-ranking militants. 37,000 men were listed for execution, and 15 or more civilians were allocated as allowable collateral damage for each executed target. [39] [40] [41] The 37,000 individuals, suspected of being merely "linked to Hamas", were identified by AI and put on a list, which allegedly became a kill list. [42]
During the same war, family homes were also hit in Southern Lebanon, in a residential area of Bint Jbeil, killing two brothers, Ali Ahmed Bazzi (30) and Ibrahim Bazzi (27), and Ibrahim's wife Shorouq Hammond. [43] The brothers are both Australian citizens. Ali lived locally but Ibrahim was visiting from Sydney to bring his wife home to Australia. [44] [43] Hezbollah claimed Ali as one of their fighters, [45] [46] and also included the civilian family members in a Hezbollah funeral. [47] [43] [48]
{{
cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
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The Zionist colonial occupation has occupied our Palestinian homeland, displaced our people, destroyed our towns and villages, perpetrated hundreds of massacres against our people, killing children, women, and elderly people and demolished homes with their inhabitants inside, in violation of all international norms and laws and human rights conventions.
The Zionist entity has occupied our land, driven out our people, destroyed our cities, our towns and our villages, committed hundreds of massacres against our people, killing children, women and the elderly, and buried innocent, peaceful people under the rubble of their homes, in contemptuous violation of all international norms and human rights and rejecting international laws. We warned the leaders of the occupation not to persist in their crimes and we appealed to world leaders to take action to end the occupiers' crimes against our holy things, our people, our detainees and our land, and to compel the occupiers to abide by international law and resolutions. But the leaders of the occupation have not heeded us, nor have the world leaders taken action.
Local media in Lebanon says an Israeli war plane fired a missile at a number of homes in Lebanon's Bint Jbei area. A missile strike killed 27-year-old Ibraham Bazzi, his brother Ali Bazzi and Ibrahim's wife Shorouk Hammond. Ms Hammoud had recently acquired an Australian visa and she and her husband Ibrahim were planning a life in Australia.Afif Bazzi (Mayor of Bint Jbeil): "It was a surprise that the Israelis hit a civilian neighbourhood, people are living normally, they have not fled. We did not flee Bint Jbeil, all residents are still in Bint Jbeil. We hear the bombardment and the shelling but it was still far away, the town was neutral but we were surprised that a civilian neighbourhood was hit, civilians, a groom who came from Australia to take his bride. They were spending time together along with his brother at his brother’s house, really it was a surprise for us." (translation by SBS World News)
{{
cite news}}
: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (
link)
A request that this article title be changed to
Killing of the Deif family is
under discussion. Please do not move this article until the discussion is closed. |
The killing of the wife, daughter, and infant son of Mohammed Deif | |
---|---|
Part of 2014 Gaza War | |
Location | Gaza Strip, Palestine (the apartment where Mohammed Deif's wife and children lived) |
Date | 19 August 2014 |
Target | Mohammed Deif (leader of the Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades) |
Attack type | English:
Targeted killing Hebrew: סיכול ממוקד, romanized: sikul memukad, lit. 'focused foiling'. [1] [2] Arabic: مجزرة عائلة, lit. 'family massacre'. |
Deaths | 6+ [3] |
Victims | The son, daughter, and wife of Mohammed Deif, and other members of the household. |
Perpetrators | Israel Defense Forces |
Motive | "an image of victory" [4] |
Accused | Accused of being informants: |
The Deif family massacre was one of many during the 2014 Gaza War and one of the only cases where the intended target is known. It is now known that the strike did not hit its target, Mohammed Deif, the father of the family.
Deif joined Hamas in 1987, weeks after its establishment during the First Intifada. [6] [7] He was arrested by Israeli authorities in 1989 for his involvement with the organization. [8] After 16 months of detention, he was released in a prisoner exchange. Soon after his release, he helped establish the Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. [7] [9] Deif became the head of the Qassam Brigades after Israel assassinated Salah Shehade in July 2002. [10] Between July 2006 and November 2012, effective command was exercised by Deif's deputy, Ahmed Jabari, after Deif was seriously wounded in an Israeli assassination attempt. [11] [12]
Mohammed Deif married Widad Asfura ( Arabic: وداد عصفورة, romanized: Widad Asfoura), [13] [14] sometimes referred to as Widad Deif, [15] in 2007 [16] or 2011. Widad was already a widow, her previous husband was a martyred Qassami fighter. They had four children together, [17] and Deif has two other sons, Bahaa ( Arabic: بهاء) and Khaled ( Arabic: خالد). [18]
On Tuesday 19 August 2014, [3] Israel attempted to assassinate the chief commander of Hamas' military wing, Mohammad Deif, in an airstrike on his house in the Sheikh Radwan district of Gaza City, killing his wife and two of their children. [19] [20] The strike on the family home killed a 7-month-old baby boy (Mohammed Deif's son, referred to at the funeral as "Ali Deif", Arabic: علي الضيف), his 3-year-old sister ( Arabic: سارة محمد الضيف, romanized: Sarah Mohammed Al-Deif), [21] [b] and their 27-year-old mother (Widad Asfoura, Mohammed Deif's second wife), [22] [23] and three other members of the household. [3]
The strike, however, did not kill its intended target, Mohammed Deif. Israeli intelligence concluded in April 2015 that Deif had survived the assassination attempt, the fifth Israeli attempt to kill him. [24]
On the same day, the IDF. successfully assassinated 3 other leaders Muhammad Abu Shamala (41 years old), Raed al-Attar (40 years old), and Muhammad Barhoum (45 years old). [25]
Several thousand people attended the funeral of Deif's wife and son in Gaza, angrily demanding revenge against Israel and firing shots into the air. The bodies of Widad and Ali were taken from the wife’s family home to a mosque in Jabaliya refugee camp for prayers, then laid to rest in the sand of a cemetery. [22]
Deif’s daughter, Arabic: سارة محمد الضيف, romanized: Sarah Mohammed Deif, [21] was not buried on the same day as her brother because her body was not recovered from the rubble until Thursday, the day after her brother's funeral, and two days after the air strike. [20] [21]
A strangely flattering letter claiming to be from (Mohammed Deif’s in laws) was published in Palestinian media. [26] Israeli papers reported that Widad's mother did not regret approving of the marriage, and said she would do the same again. [23]
In addition to the rage in Gaza, some within Israel also criticised the strike. Gideon Levy, in his opinion piece "What Would Israel Do in Hamas' Shoes?" for Haaretz, asked how Israel would react if Hamas killed the wife and children of one of Israel's leaders. [4] Levy also pointed out that even if the assassination had been successful, based on past successful strikes on Ahmad Yassin and others, Deif would have been replaced, and by someone more extreme. [4]
The day after Israel killed the wife and two young children of Mohammed Deif - and assassinated three Hamas military leaders - the Qassam Brigades suddenly executed 18 suspected collaborators in Gaza. [27] Some were on trial for espionage, but those trials were suddenly cut short. From among the executed, 6 were killed by a firing squad outside a mosque in front of hundreds of spectators including children. [28]
According to an Amnesty International report, during the 2014 Gaza War, [29] [30] Hamas [c] executed 23 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. [31] Amnesty International reported that, most were executed by militants during the 2014 conflict, and 16 of them imprisoned from before the war began. [32] [33] Amnesty International claimed that "Hamas" [c] used the cover of the war, which had a very heavily death toll, [29] to carry out summary executions, to settle scores against opponents under the pretext they were collaborators with Israel. [28] [31] In 2015 they were accused of torture. [30]The killing of suspected informants may not have stopped after the end in the 2014 war. Some sources say that the first crime Mahmoud Ishtiwi was accused of, when he was arrested in January 2015, was giving Israel the location of Deif’s family residence, leading to this strike. [5] However, Ishtiwi was also accused of multiple other transgressions, including the embezzlement of 6 million USD from the Qassam Brigades' weapons funds, and several elaborate sex scandalous. [34] But the family accused the Qassam Brigades and Hamas of killing Mahmoud unjustly due to interpersonal disputes within the organisations, and of torturing him to death. [34] [35]
In his pre-dawn recorded speech on 7 October 2023, Deif criticised the occupation for violence against children and women, and listed it among the reasons for launching the attacks, but did not specifically mention his personal experience. [36] [37] [38]
"The Zionist entity has occupied our land, driven out our people, destroyed our cities, our towns and our villages, committed hundreds of massacres against our people, killing children, women and the elderly, and buried innocent, peaceful people under the rubble of their homes, in contemptuous violation of all international norms and human rights and rejecting international laws." - Mohammed Deif. [38] [36]
In 2014, the strategy of bombing family homes was allegedly only used on particularly high-ranking members of so called " terrorist" organisations. On the evening of 7 October 2023, however, Israel's "Where's Daddy" strategy was expanded to include even the lowest-ranking militants. 37,000 men were listed for execution, and 15 or more civilians were allocated as allowable collateral damage for each executed target. [39] [40] [41] The 37,000 individuals, suspected of being merely "linked to Hamas", were identified by AI and put on a list, which allegedly became a kill list. [42]
During the same war, family homes were also hit in Southern Lebanon, in a residential area of Bint Jbeil, killing two brothers, Ali Ahmed Bazzi (30) and Ibrahim Bazzi (27), and Ibrahim's wife Shorouq Hammond. [43] The brothers are both Australian citizens. Ali lived locally but Ibrahim was visiting from Sydney to bring his wife home to Australia. [44] [43] Hezbollah claimed Ali as one of their fighters, [45] [46] and also included the civilian family members in a Hezbollah funeral. [47] [43] [48]
{{
cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link)
The Zionist colonial occupation has occupied our Palestinian homeland, displaced our people, destroyed our towns and villages, perpetrated hundreds of massacres against our people, killing children, women, and elderly people and demolished homes with their inhabitants inside, in violation of all international norms and laws and human rights conventions.
The Zionist entity has occupied our land, driven out our people, destroyed our cities, our towns and our villages, committed hundreds of massacres against our people, killing children, women and the elderly, and buried innocent, peaceful people under the rubble of their homes, in contemptuous violation of all international norms and human rights and rejecting international laws. We warned the leaders of the occupation not to persist in their crimes and we appealed to world leaders to take action to end the occupiers' crimes against our holy things, our people, our detainees and our land, and to compel the occupiers to abide by international law and resolutions. But the leaders of the occupation have not heeded us, nor have the world leaders taken action.
Local media in Lebanon says an Israeli war plane fired a missile at a number of homes in Lebanon's Bint Jbei area. A missile strike killed 27-year-old Ibraham Bazzi, his brother Ali Bazzi and Ibrahim's wife Shorouk Hammond. Ms Hammoud had recently acquired an Australian visa and she and her husband Ibrahim were planning a life in Australia.Afif Bazzi (Mayor of Bint Jbeil): "It was a surprise that the Israelis hit a civilian neighbourhood, people are living normally, they have not fled. We did not flee Bint Jbeil, all residents are still in Bint Jbeil. We hear the bombardment and the shelling but it was still far away, the town was neutral but we were surprised that a civilian neighbourhood was hit, civilians, a groom who came from Australia to take his bride. They were spending time together along with his brother at his brother’s house, really it was a surprise for us." (translation by SBS World News)
{{
cite news}}
: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (
link)