Al Jazeera has released rare archival footage, recordings and documents showing former Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, former Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar and other senior commanders of the Palestinian resistance movement in underground tunnels and military facilities in the Gaza Strip.

The newly released material, broadcast as part of Al Jazeera’s investigative documentary series What Is Hidden Is Greater, offers a rare glimpse into the leadership meetings, military preparations and strategic discussions of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, before the October 7, 2023, operation against Israel.

Among the footage are scenes of Deif walking through underground tunnels and meeting with senior commanders, as well as recordings showing discussions about military operations and preparations for confrontation with Israeli forces.

The material also features meetings involving prominent resistance figures, including Sinwar, Deif’s deputy Marwan Issa and other senior commanders who played key roles in Hamas’s military leadership.

The archival material provides an unusual look at the leadership structure of Hamas’s armed wing, whose senior figures operated largely outside public view for years amid Israel’s extensive intelligence and military operations in Gaza.

One recording reportedly shows Deif and other commanders examining military models and discussing operational plans. Other footage documents meetings between senior figures and their activities at military facilities, including a rocket manufacturing workshop.

The documentary also includes archival recordings and documents that Al Jazeera says shed light on the decision-making process leading up to the October 7 operation.

According to reports about the broadcast, one document dated October 5, 2023, was presented as an operational order attributed to Deif, while another reportedly concerned discussions among senior military leaders earlier that year. The contents and provenance of the documents have not been independently established in the material cited here.

The release comes after Israel assassinated several senior Hamas leaders during its war on Gaza.

Deif, who led the Al-Qassam Brigades for years and survived multiple Israeli assassination attempts, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis in July 2024. Hamas confirmed his death in January 2025.

Sinwar, who became Hamas's overall leader following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July 2024, was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza in October 2024. Issa and several other senior commanders were also killed during the war.

Their deaths marked a major escalation in Israel's campaign to eliminate Hamas's political and military leadership. However, the killing of senior figures has not, by itself, resolved the wider conflict or the underlying Palestinian question.

The documentary's release also brings renewed attention to the events of October 7, 2023, and the devastating war that followed.

The Hamas-led attack killed approximately 1,200 people in Israel, according to Israeli figures, while 251 people were taken hostage. The attack included killings of civilians, and attacks on civilians are prohibited under international humanitarian law.

Israel subsequently launched a military campaign across the Gaza Strip that caused mass displacement, widespread destruction of homes and civilian infrastructure, and a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. The war has also drawn intense international scrutiny over alleged violations of international humanitarian law and the legal consequences of Israel's military campaign.

For Palestinians, the conflict cannot be separated from the broader history of Israeli occupation, the blockade of Gaza, settlement expansion and the long-standing absence of an independent Palestinian state. These issues have remained central to Palestinian demands for freedom, self-determination and an end to occupation.

The newly released archival material offers additional insight into the activities and leadership of Hamas before October 7. At the same time, the footage alone does not resolve the broader political and historical questions surrounding the conflict or establish independent verification of every claim made in the documentary.

As debate over the war and its aftermath continues, the material provides a further record of the figures who shaped Hamas's military strategy during a pivotal period in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. (ILKHA)