Al Jazeera broadcast rare archival footage of Muhammad Deif and other senior figures in Hamas's military wing on Friday evening, presenting the material as a look at the group's activities and preparations for the October 7 attack. The videos appeared on the network's program "What Is Hidden Is Greater," alongside documents it said shed light on how the attack was planned.
The footage allegedly depicts military leaders holding discussions in tunnels before the attack, as well as Deif moving through a tunnel during the war. In one sequence, he wears a hat and speaks to the people accompanying him as they walk underground. Other scenes show senior commanders exchanging greetings, assembling for a meeting and later praying together in the tunnels.
Those identified in the videos included Marwan Issa, Deif's deputy, along with Mohammed Sinwar, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, Ra'ad Sa'ad, Ahmed Randour and Rafa'a Salameh. The underground gatherings were among several settings shown in the broadcast, which also included footage from a weapons production site and an operations room.
In the footage from a rocket manufacturing workshop, Deif appears with former Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh. The program also played a recorded conversation between Deif and Sinwar. Al Jazeera said that exchange took place after the Israeli military's Operation Guardian of the Walls in 2021.
A separate segment depicts Deif inside Hamas's operations room. There, he examines models of Israeli tanks and discusses a battle plan with brigade commanders. That material was presented alongside the scenes of commanders meeting underground and the documents the network attributed to Hamas's planning process.
One of the documents carries the date October 5, 2023, two days before the October 7 attack. Al Jazeera described it as an operational order bearing Deif's signature and said it followed a staff meeting that lasted six hours.
According to the program, that order set the attack's start time at 6:30 a.m. The network presented the document as part of its account of the preparations immediately preceding the attack.
Another document was reportedly connected to a February 2023 meeting of Hamas's inner military command. Al Jazeera said it recorded a decision to start preparing for the attack, placing that decision months before the operation was carried out.
