PROFILE - Haniyeh: Prominent Palestinian political leader and symbol of Hamas

By Anadolu staff

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) announced on Wednesday that the head of its political bureau Ismail Haniyeh had been assassinated in an Israeli raid on his residence in the Iranian capital of Tehran.

Hamas issued a statement mourning Haniyeh, saying he was killed "in a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran after participating in the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian president."

Iranian state television also confirmed Haniyeh’s death in Tehran, saying an investigation into the assassination is underway and findings will be announced later.

Israel has yet to comment on the major incident.

Haniyeh's last public appearance was on Tuesday at Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian's inauguration ceremony in Tehran.

Haniyeh was a prominent Palestinian political leader and a symbol of Hamas, who served as the Palestinian prime minister between 2006 and 2007.

In May 2017, he was elected for the first time the head of the Hamas group's political bureau and reelected for a second term in 2021.

Before Haniyeh's assassination, Israel killed Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmad Yasin on March 22, 2024, and then killed the resistance group’s prominent leader Abdel Aziz Al-Rantisi on April 17.

Haniyeh served in the Hamas leadership for 20 years, taking on various roles such as resistance group leader in Gaza, deputy leader, and eventually top leader.

- Ismail Haniyeh's life

Ismail Haniyeh was a member of a refugee family that was forcibly expelled from the Al-Jura village near Gaza during the 1948 Palestinian Nakba (Catastrophe).

He was born in 1963 in the Beach Refugee Camp in western Gaza City and lived there until 2019 before moving to Qatar to lead Hamas political bureau.

In 1981, he was enrolled at the Islamic University of Gaza and graduated from the Arabic Literature program.

Haniyeh was the father of 13 children, three of whom were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Beach Refugee Camp in April 2024.

- His role within Hamas

Haniyeh began his political career with Hamas' student branch, known as the Islamic Bloc.

He was arrested several times by the Israeli army.

The first time he was arrested was in 1987 when the Israeli army detained him for 18 days. Then, in 1988, he was arrested for six months without charge or trial under the draconian administrative detention law.

In 1989, he was arrested for the third time and spent three years in an Israeli jail on charges of being a member of the Hamas security service.

After being released from an Israeli prison, he was deported to the Marj al-Zouhour area in southern Lebanon with over 400 Palestinians, mostly from Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups, for over a year.

In 2006, Haniyeh led the Hamas electoral list, known as the Change and Reform Bloc, which won a parliamentary majority.

Following the elections, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asked Haniyeh to form the government, but due to internal conflicts and disagreements with the Fatah group, Abbas sacked him in June 2007.

In 2007, however, he took over as leader of the Hamas in Gaza, a position he held until 2017.

Between 2013 and 2017, Haniyeh served as the deputy to the head of Hamas' political bureau, and in May 2017, he was elected the resistance group's leader for the first time, and reelected for another term in 2021.

In 2018, the US State Department placed him on its list of terrorists under pressure from Israel.

- Assassination attempts

Ismail Haniyeh faced several Israeli assassination attempts due to his role in Hamas leadership.

On Sept 6, 2003, he was injured in an Israeli raid targeting him and Hamas founder Sheikh Yasin.

His car was also targeted on Oct. 20, 2006, during internal clashes between Hamas and Fatah.

Israel security forces also raided his home in an attempt to kill him during previous wars on Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar