Abu Obeida, military spokesman for the al-Qassam Brigades (social media)

"The masked", "the spokesman for the nation", "the title of psychological warfare", and "the dictionary of battle" are several nicknames given by the masses to the military spokesman for the Martyr Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, "Abu Obeida", the owner of the voice that people memorized well in all rounds of confrontation between the occupation and the resistance in Gaza.

During the battle of the "Al-Aqsa Flood", it became a symbol and title for the voice of the field and its events, and for years its red veil remained the prominent sign of resistance.

A voice from the time of the uprising

Although many sources indicate that Abu Obeida's first appearance was at a conference announcing the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in Operation Dissipated Illusion in 2006, the masked man's beginnings predated this conference by years.

Abu Obeida appeared in the years 2002-2003 in video versions of the Qassam Brigades, when he was identified as a "commander in the Qassam Brigades", before appearing at a press conference for the first time from inside the "Al-Nour" mosque in the northern Gaza Strip, during the "Days of Rage" battle in 2004, which was launched by the resistance factions in response to the occupation invasion of the northern Gaza Strip in an operation called "Days of Remorse".

During his debut, wearing the League of Green Brigades and a black mask, Abu Obeida spoke to reporters about the course of the battle, the most prominent operations carried out by the Brigades alone or in conjunction with the resistance factions, and a number of weapons used to repel the invasion, and the remnants of vehicles destroyed by the resistance in the northern Gaza Strip.

Following the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005, Abu Obeida officially assumed the status of "media spokesman for the Qassam Brigades", appeared in a program hosted by Venice presented by Al-Jazeera, and gave interviews about the future of the Brigades and their role after the Israeli withdrawal, with a number of Arab and local media outlets, newspapers and news websites that expanded their reach during that period.

Abu Obeida, the official voice of the Qassam Brigades, continued to be present in statements claiming responsibility for the brigades' operations, delivering messages from the military wing, and directing threats to the occupation and its settlers, most notably the "transformation of the settlement of Sderot into a ghost town" in June 2006, in response to the escalation of the occupation aggression against the Gaza Strip, and the statement announcing the capture of soldier Shalit.

During the April 2008 conference to adopt Operation Death Field, Abu Obeida stated, "The options presented to the Zionist soldier when he enters the Gaza Strip are four: either he falls dead, falls prisoner, suffers permanent disability, or returns to mental illness forever, and that he will not return victorious in any way."

The thunderous sound of battle

After the occupation began its first war on the Gaza Strip in 2008-2009, which was called "Cast Lead", and the resistance called it "the battle of Al-Furqan", the role of "Abu Obeida" emerged for the first time in being the military spokesman for the ongoing war, and the official voice of the resistance in announcing official statements, addressing the home front and the Arab peoples, and revealing the losses of the occupation and the performance of fighters on the ground.

In subsequent wars, Abu Obeida's visual appearance and war statements from the heart of aggression were associated with human beings from the field. Each breaking news about an anticipated speech was a clear indication of achievements that would be announced. This was later repeated in his statements during the battle of "Shajil Stone" in 2012, and his announcement for the first time that the Qassam used anti-aircraft missiles against the occupation.

The third war on Gaza in 2014, which the resistance called the "Eaten Storm" battle, constituted the height of the masked hump and the wider presence of his military statements, the most prominent of which was his historic speech in July of that year, in which he announced the capture of soldier "Shaul Aron", pointing out that the occupation ignored the hours of the official announcement of this operation and its results, a declaration that came to heal the breasts of the people of Gaza after the bloody Shujaiya massacre committed by the occupation on the night of Aaron's capture.

During the battle of "Eaten Storm", it became clear the extent of the field and moral impact of Abu Obeida's appearances, and many videos were seen, showing the crowd gathering to listen to his statements and speeches in the West Bank, Jordan and the camps of Lebanon, and chants in his name in demonstrations and confrontation points.

In that year, the occupation became aware of the size of Abu Obeida's presence, symbolism and influence on the conscience of people supporting the resistance option, launching a media campaign against him during which he allegedly revealed his identity and personal data.

Al-Aqsa satellite channel was also subjected to piracy and penetration by the occupation army, during which it displayed an alleged image of "Hudhaifa Al-Kahlout", who the occupation claims to be the military spokesman for Al-Qassam.

News agencies also circulated brief information about him as he holds a master's degree in fundamentals of religion, lives in northern Gaza, and that his house has been bombed several times, while the Qassam Brigades has not commented on any of these allegations.

Over the years, Abu Obeida maintained rare appearances and brief press conferences, which were held to comment on political or field issues related to the resistance, including statements he delivered after the assassination of Tunisian engineer Mohamed Zouari, and commenting on Operation "End of the Sword" in 2019 and the achievement of the Qassam at the time by detecting and clashing with an Israeli special force and killing and wounding a number of its members in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip.

From conferences to digital platforms

In April 2020, the Qassam Brigades launched a special Telegram channel called "Abu Obeida – the military spokesman for the Qassam Brigades", to be an additional channel to broadcast the masked man's statements and statements, and later his text tweets, which in a few months will become one of his new appearance patterns, and has more than half a million subscribers.

On 25 June 2020, the first message was published on the channel, which included the word "Abu Obeida" on the anniversary of Operation Dissipated Illusion and the capture of soldier Shalit.

Almost a year later, on May 2021, <>, the channel published the second message entitled "The Last Warning", which included a greeting from Chief of Staff Muhammad Al-Deif to the residents of Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, and a clear warning of the occupation.

The second message was followed by a third message four days later, renewing greetings to the people of Jerusalem and those stationed at Al-Aqsa. Then the letter of threat and deadline to the occupation on the tenth of May, which was followed two hours later by the announcement of the opening missile strike of the battle of the "Sword of Jerusalem".

The battle of "Sword of Jerusalem" received a new pattern of appearances for "Abu Obeida", through text tweets, and interaction with the course of the field with brief messages showing the battalions' follow-up to all developments, and the battle also included recorded voice words for him and visual appearances throughout the 11 days of the battle.

During the years following the battle of the "Sword of Jerusalem", Abu Obeida continued to send text messages and brief tweets about the latest developments in the Palestinian scene, and related to the occupation attacks on Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, commenting on his crimes and threatening an expected response to the Palestinian resistance, especially the Qassam Resistance, about these continuous attacks, in addition to adopting some commando operations in the West Bank, and lamenting their perpetrators.

In the days of the flood

The eighth of October 2023, on the second day of the "Al-Aqsa Flood" battle, "Abu Obeida" sent a brief audio message about the occupation prisoners, followed by a long recorded speech more than two hours later, followed by the appearance of the military spokesman periodically throughout the days of the battle, with audio and video messages and text tweets.

Abu Obeida was and still is the voice of the Palestinian fighters and the message of the Palestinian resistance, which carried in its words the truth and truth, especially with regard to the failed occupation operations to free his prisoners, and the statements of the killing of detainees through aerial bombardment or field raids.

Today, Abu Obeida represents the face and voice of the media war, and his presence and wide popularity in the Arab countries and the world, and his iconic appearance in the red keffiyeh, the Palestinian flag and the military uniform, are features of a personality whose name generations have preserved, and people sang it in poems and poems and cheered it in demonstrations, marches and events.

Source : Al Jazeera