GAZA -

Large Palestinian crowds mourned this afternoon, Thursday, Hajj Diab Al-Masry, father of "Mohammed Deif", the commander-in-chief of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of the Islamic Resistance Movement "Hamas", nicknamed "Commander of Staff of the Resistance".

The father of the guest died, at dawn on Thursday, at his home in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, and thousands of mourners performed the funeral prayer for him in the “Great Mosque” in the city center, led by the head of Hamas in Gaza Yahya Sinwar, and prominent leaders in the Palestinian factions.

Signs of sadness were drawn on the faces of the mourners, and the city's residents, who looked with appreciation for Hajj Diab, the father of Muhammad Deif, one of the symbols of this city, to which well-known leaders of the Palestinian resistance belong.

Sons of the Palestinian resistance leader Muhammad Al-Deif and his relatives before the funeral of their grandfather from a mosque in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip (Al-Jazeera)

The guest..the absent present

In the solemn funeral procession, the sons of the resistance chief of staff appeared to bid farewell to their grandfather and place kisses on his forehead, while he was lying in his shroud.

Hamas mourned the father of its military wing commander, and said, "With hearts that believe in God and his destiny, we mourn to our people and nation a patient and generous man from the men of Palestine, dear father and father of the symbol of resistance on the land of Palestine, Haji Diab Al-Dhaif (the Egyptian)."

"We mourn to our people and our nation, Hajj Diab al-Masry, the father of the brother commander Muhammad al-Deif (Abu Khaled), the commander-in-chief of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades," the movement's political bureau chief, Ismail Haniyeh, said in a mourning statement.

He added, "In my name and on behalf of the leadership of the Hamas movement, its frameworks, cadres and sons at home and abroad, I offer my deepest condolences to the Mujahid brother Abu Khaled Al-Dhaif and his generous family in this affliction (...) and I ask the Almighty God to cover him with his vast mercy and dwell in his vast paradise and inspire his family patience, solace and goodness." .

In a speech during the funeral procession, one of the dignitaries of Khan Yunis, a Hamas leader, Younis al-Astal, said, "It is a pride for you, O generous man, that your son, Muhammad, who offended the faces of the Zionists and taught them lessons."

Al-Astal praised Ataa al-Dhaif and his jihad over many years, until the Palestinian resistance reached its present level of progress and development, and was able - according to his description - to cause "the terror of the entity."

Al-Astal stressed that "the resistance will remain pressing the trigger, led by the Al-Qassam Brigades, led by Muhammad Al-Deif, son of the late Diab Al-Masry, until the liberation of Palestine."


First wanted

Muhammad Al-Deif was born in Khan Yunis in 1965, to a simple refugee family who was forced to emigrate during the Nakba in 1948, and joined the ranks of Hamas at an early stage of his life.

Deif was arrested in the prisons of the Israeli occupation in 1989, and spent 16 months, for his activity in the resistance during the first intifada (1987-1993).

Israel has been chasing the guest since 1992, and has classified him as wanted (No. 1) on the assassination list, as one of the most prominent founders of the Qassam Brigades, and responsible for commando operations that led to the killing of many Israelis.

The name of the guest emerged, and the chant of his name reached the sky during the last Israeli war in May last year, when he responded to the calls of the people of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem, so resistance missiles were launched from Gaza in support of them and to prevent their displacement.

The occupation authorities attribute to Deif the responsibility for the significant development in the military performance of the Al-Qassam Brigades, in terms of the missile system, and for adopting the approach of defensive and offensive tunnels on the borders of the Gaza Strip, according to what is reported in the Hebrew media.

The guest miraculously survived several assassination attempts targeting him, the last of which was during the last war last summer.

Israel says that one of these attempts caused him to disable his limbs and one of his eyes, while an assassination attempt, which he survived in the third war in 2014, claimed the life of his wife and infant son.

The leaders of Hamas and the Palestinian factions at the head of the mourners of the father of the leader of the Palestinian resistance, Muhammad Deif, in Gaza (Al-Jazeera)

Attempts to monitor it

After his father's death was announced in the morning, Israeli journalists and Hebrew websites indicated that the Israeli security services were motivated to monitor the guest if he tried to participate in his father's funeral.

Israeli journalist Roi Case wrote on his Twitter account, "The father of Muhammad Deif is dead. It is not clear in what way the son will hide to attend the funeral."

While the Israeli journalist Yonit Yohanan published a picture of the funeral of Deif's father from his home, saying, "Out of this narrow alley in Khan Yunis camp came the funeral of Muhammad Deif's father. Not only did Muhammad Deif grow up in the camp itself, but also Yahya Sinwar."