On 19 August 2014, the Israel Defense Forces carried out an airstrike at the home of Mohammed Deif, leader of the Al-Qassam Brigades. Deif was unharmed, but his wife, Widad Asfura, and two of their children were killed.
Background
Deif, born Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, joined Hamas in 1987, weeks after its establishment during the First Intifada.[3][4] He was arrested by Israeli authorities in 1989 for his involvement with the organization.[5] 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.[4][6] Deif became the head of the Qassam Brigades after Israel assassinated Salah Shehade in July 2002.[7] 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.[8][9]
Mohammed Deif married Widad Asfura (Arabic: وداد عصفورة, romanized: Widad Asfoura),[10][11] sometimes referred to as Widad Deif,[12] in 2007[13] or 2011. Widad was a widow (her previous husband had been a Qassami fighter who was killed). She and Deif had four children together,[14] and Deif has two other sons, Bahaa (Arabic: بهاء) and Khaled (Arabic: خالد).[15] Widad also had two sons from her late husband.[16]
Air strike
On 19 August 2014,[1] Israel attempted to assassinate Deif in an airstrike on his house in the Sheikh Radwan district of Gaza City.[17][18] The strike on the family home killed his 27-year old wife (Widad Asfoura)[19] and two of their children, a 3-year-old daughter (Arabic: سارة محمد الضيف, romanized: Sarah Mohammed Al-Deif)[b][20] and 7-month-old son (referred to at the funeral as "Ali Deif" Arabic: علي الضيف),[21]
and three other members of the household.[1] The strike also killed a mother and her two teenage sons from the Al Dalu family.[22] The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights claimed it was the same house previously destroyed in 2012 which reportedly killed multiple members of the Al Dalu family.[23]
The strike, however, did not kill Mohammed Deif. Israeli intelligence concluded in April 2015 that Deif had survived the assassination attempt, the fifth Israeli attempt to kill him.[24]
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.[21]
Deif’s daughter, Arabic: سارة محمد الضيف, romanized: Sarah Mohammed Al-Deif,[20] was not buried on the same day as her brother because her body was not recovered from the rubble until approximately midday on Thursday, the day after her brother's funeral, and two days after the air strike.[18][20][23]
A letter describing the personal lives of Deif and his wife was published in Palestinian media.[26] Israeli papers reported that Widad's mother did not regret approving of the marriage and had said she would do the same again.[19]
Israeli criticism of the attempted assassination
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.[27] 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.[27]
^"אלפים בהלווית אשתו ובנו של דף: "לנקום בישראל"". Mako (in Hebrew). 20 August 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2024. Quote in Hebrew: וידאד עספורה דף, אשתו בת ה-27 של מפקד חמאס, ועלי מוחמד דף, בנו בן ה-7, נהרגו בהפצצת צה"ל יחד עם עוד ארבעה בני אדם ובהם אשתו ובנו של אחמד דאלו - בעל הבית שהותקף ובכיר בזרוע הצבאית של חמאס., lit. 'Widad Asfora, the 27-year-old wife of a Hamas commander, and Ali Muhammad Deif, their 7-year-old son [sic], were killed in an IDF bombing along with four other people, including the wife and son of Ahmed Dalou - the owner of the house that was attacked and a senior in the arm the military of Hamas.'
^ ab"Terror chief Deif's mother-in-law offers him her other daughters". Times of Israel. 24 August 2014. Retrieved 8 June 2024. "Should Deif request the hand of any of my other daughters, I will happily consent and even if she, too, is martyred I will consent to the third. It is an honor to have Deif a husband to any of my daughters and be a father to their children." - Zeian Asfura, (mother of Widad Deif)
