Finding Hamas chief's wheelchair: Where is Muhammad Deif now? - analysis

The IDF’s excavation of a network of tunnels in northern Gaza under and around Hamas’s military headquarters – and the discovery of video footage, two wheelchairs, and intelligence and documents relating to Hamas military chief Muhammad Deif – are impressive military and intelligence accomplishments.

However, amid the ongoing debate about whether Deif still uses a wheelchair, or if he can walk on his own, the most important question may be lost: Where is Deif now?

IDF sources have confirmed that they still do not know.

With the military controlling most of northern Gaza, IDF intelligence assumes that Deif fled to southern Gaza from his military headquarters office sometime after the IDF’s invasion, in late October.

What is the truth?

It is also assumed that Deif is in Khan Yunis, where he has roots and where Hamas’s terror forces can mount their most significant remaining defense.

However, these appear to be educated guesses.

He could be near Khan Yunis in some smaller village that IDF forces might ignore, or he may have fled to Rafah to be near the sensitive Philadelphi Corridor area on the border with Egypt, which the IDF has still mostly avoided.

It is even possible that he fled into Egypt, from where he could eventually travel to many places around the world that would give safe harbor to Hamas terrorists.

The bottom line is that 10 weeks into this war, the IDF has neither killed nor arrested Deif, nor his compatriot, Gaza civilian chief Yahya Sinwar. After more than two weeks since the IDF entered Khan Yunis, there are no signs that it is closer to solving the puzzle of the Hamas leaders’ location.

Alternatively, the IDF may know exactly where they are and may be intentionally avoiding them, because the Hamas leaders may be using large numbers of Israeli hostages as human shields.

According to this theory, the IDF is trying to take over all of Gaza except where the Hamas leaders are, in order to isolate them and avoid endangering the hostages.

What is the fate of Deif and Sinwar?

The question of what Deif’s and Sinwar’s fate will be is one of the most important of the war, in terms of charting when the war will end and how much Gaza will be able to move on from Hamas and leave the terror group in its past.

Until the IDF finds or decides to go after the Hamas military chief, the most that the Israeli public can do is fawn over the new discoveries hinting at his health status and recent whereabouts.

Two wheelchairs strategically placed near tunnel shafts, and an elevator near his office, strongly suggest that he sometimes uses a wheelchair. They also indicate that he prioritized continuing to move around to check the status of his forces, despite being disabled, by having wheelchairs placed at multiple strategic underground locations that exit the area.

Videos even purportedly show him walking without a wheelchair, though with some help from another Hamas member. The wheelchairs may be from his past or he may only use them occasionally.

But the mixture of the wheelchairs, videos, and documents gave the clearest picture to date of what Hamas’s military chief looks like today (or at least did a few weeks ago). This could help identify him in the future, and indicate his current state of health.

His health status has been highly debated after some seven assassination attempts against him over the decades, with four almost succeeding and some deeply wounding him, including during the 2014 Gaza conflict.

Until the IDF can bring Deif to justice, the side debates deciphering this mysterious and infamous Hamas legend will continue to dominate the country’s discourse.