Two years after the assassination of Muhammad Deif, commander of Hamas' military wing: 'Asharq al-Awsat published new details today (Tuesday) about his movements from the massacre on October 7 until his assassination.
According to the report cited in Kan News, on the day of the assassination, Hamas was quick to deny that Daf had been hit. Three sources in the organization said that the initial denial stemmed from the fact that a significant portion of Hamas' senior officials were certain that Daf was in Gaza City and not in the southern Strip.
Some knew it was in the southern Gaza Strip, but they did not know the exact location.
The sources said that Daf had not been in the tunnels at all since the beginning of the war, but it is possible that he was forced to go underground only once.
The place where Daf was killed belonged to Rafa Salameh, commander of the Khan Yunis Brigade in Hamas, who was killed along with Daf and many family members and security personnel from Hamas' military wing.
Two Hamas sources confirmed that Daf was actually in Gaza City during the October 7 attack. He remained there for several weeks, and moved to the southern Gaza Strip a few days before the IDF completed the capture of the Netzarim axis.
Two sources who were exposed to information from Daf's associates said that he left Gaza City alone, without his bodyguards, and moved to Rafah in early November 2023, coinciding with the beginning of the ground maneuver in the northern Gaza Strip.
Another source in the terrorist organization said that several senior military wing officials, including Izz ad-Din al-Haddad, advised Daf not to leave Gaza City, and emphasized that they were able to provide him with the necessary protection.
According to the same source, Daf "preferred to continue conducting the fighting and following all political developments related to the negotiations" - and therefore moved to the south.
The source revealed that communication between Daf and the rest of the Hamas leadership was cut off for four whole days, after he moved to the southern Gaza Strip, because he was unable to find the contact who was supposed to be waiting to take him to a safe place.
Therefore, he was forced to continue to Rafah, which at this point was a place where 1.3 million displaced people from the rest of the Gaza Strip had arrived.
Israeli intelligence did not have a current photo of Daf at the time, nor was such a photo circulated among Palestinians. According to the source, the 58-year-old Daf managed to sleep on the streets of Rafah, and once inside one of its mosques, without anyone recognizing him.
Another Hamas source said that after four days, one of the military wing's field operatives suddenly recognized Daf and moved him to a safe place.
He later moved to Khan Yunis, where he arrived at the location where the Khan Yunis Brigade Commander Rafe Salameh was staying, and since then they moved together to several places, until they established themselves in the building where they were eliminated.
