‘The Politician’, ‘The Guest, ‘The Strongman’: The deadly trio behind Hamas

The Israel-Hamas war is intensifying. On Day 7, as the collective toll rises to nearly 3,000 people, Hamas – the Palestinian militant group – has asked residents to stay put and “not fall for the evacuation warning.”

The statement from the group on social media website X came after Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ordered the relocation of nearly 1.1 million Palestinians from north of Wadi Gaza to Southern Gaza within 24 hours.

Israel is on the warpath against Hamas, alleging that its members carried out atrocities “worse than ISIS” – killing innocent civilians, women, children and mutilating their bodies.

But who makes up the leadership of the Hamas? And where are they located?

Ismail Haniyeh

The 60-year-old serves as the head of the Hamas’ political wing. Considered ‘The Politician’, he assumed the seat of power in 2017, succeeding Khaled Meshaal. However, he was already a known figure when he became Palestinian prime minister in 2006 following an upset victory by Hamas in that year’s parliamentary election.

Known to be calm and pragmatic, Haniyeh joined the Hamas in 1987 when the militant group was founded as the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, broke out against Israeli occupation, lasting until 1993. During that time Haniyeh was imprisoned by Israel several times, and then expelled to south Lebanon for six months.

He has long camped for a reconciliation between the armed resistance against Israel and a political stance within Hamas, which is blacklisted as a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States.

Declared a terrorist by the US State Department in 2018, Haniyeh reportedly splits his time between Turkey and Qatar.

In fact, in footage broadcast by Hamas-linked media on Saturday, Haniyeh is seen watching images on television from an unknown location of the unfolding attack on Israel, before joining other Hamas leaders in a prayer to “thank Allah for this victory”.

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Mohammed Deif

Mohammed Deif is the shadowy leader of Hamas’ military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, which was created around 1991. Better known as ‘The Guest’, he is Israel’s public enemy number one and a man they tried to assassinate at least six times and on the US list of “international terrorists” since 2015.

Considered by Hamas as the group’s “chief of staff”, Deif is the one who announced in an audio message the start of the Hamas attack on Israel dubbed ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’. In the recording Deif is heard saying that “the positions and fortifications of the enemy have been targeted by 5,000 rockets and shells during the first 20 minutes” of the attack.

Hamas which released the audio message also posted a picture of Deif in the shadow, as it usually does so that he could not be identified.

Only a few, poor-quality photographs of Deif are known to exist, the most recent taken some 20 years ago.

His hiding place is unknown, and he is reported to be a master of disguise who is able to blend seamlessly into the population.

Deif, whose real name is Mohammed Diab al-Masri, was born in 1965 in Gaza’s Khan Yunis refugee camp. He has been involved with Hamas since the 1980s and took part in many of its operations, including the abduction of soldiers and suicide bombings.

He was appointed head of Hamas’ military wing in 2002 after the death of his predecessor, Salah Shehade, in a raid.

Two years earlier, at the start of the second intifada, Deif had escaped, or was freed, from a prison run by Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority.

Shortly after he was named Hamas’ military head, Israel launched its fifth bid to assassinate him in Gaza, in an attack that left him severely wounded, with unconfirmed reports suggesting he had been left paraplegic.

The last time Israel tried to assassinate Deif was in 2014 when it launched an air strike on Gaza, killing his wife and one of the couple’s children.

Deif’s enemies have dubbed him the “cat with nine lives” while Palestinians consider him a living legend.

Yahya Sinwar

A former commander of the Hamas military wing, Sinwar, who is aged 61, is today considered the ‘strongman of Gaza’.

He rose through the ranks of Hamas as a fierce advocate of armed struggle against Israel and is considered by the group as their “defence minister”.

An aura of mystery surrounds the slightly-built, Hebrew speaker Sinwar, who knows Israel well, having spent 23 years in Israeli jails before his release in 2011 in a prisoner exchange involving French-Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who was held captive by Hamas.

Like Deif he also is on the US list of wanted “international terrorists” since 2015. In 2021, Israeli officials targeted Sinwar’s home and office in the south of the Gaza Strip during an uptick in hostilities, as per a Washington Post report.

On Thursday, Israeli army spokesman Richard Hecht told reporters the offensive on Gaza targets senior Hamas leaders including Sinwar. A day earlier, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the Israel Defence Forces, had said: “Yahya Sinwar is the commander of the campaign, and he is a dead man. Hamas’ “military and political leadership, all of its assets, are subject to attack and doomed”.

With inputs from AFP