Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed by a predawn air strike in the Iranian capital Tehran on Wednesday, Iran and the militant group said, blaming Israel for a shock assassination. Israel had vowed to kill Haniyeh and other leaders of Hamas over the October 7 attacks.
Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in an air strike in Tehran early Wednesday, was the head of Hamas’s political wing and a former Palestinian prime minister whose membership in the Islamist militant group dated back to its inception.
Hamas said Haniyeh was killed at his residence in the Iranian capital in an Israeli air strike after he attended the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s new president. Israel has not commented on the accusation.
Considered a pragmatist within Hamas and known for his calm demeanour, Haniyeh was born in 1963 in Gaza’s Al-Shati refugee camp to a family that had to flee Ashkelon, several kilometres north of the territory, during the creation of Israel 15 years earlier.
In his youth he was a member of the student branch of the Muslim Brotherhood at the Islamic University of Gaza, and joined Hamas in 1987 when the group was founded after the outbreak of the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation, which lasted until 1993.
Haniyeh served as an aid to Hamas’s founder and spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, rising through the ranks until he became the group’s top political leader in 2017.
He and Yassin survived an assassination attempt in 2003, emerging alive from a house on which an Israeli aircraft had dropped a bomb. Yassin was killed a year later.
Haniyeh had lived in self-imposed exile in Qatar since 2019 and the threats against him did not prevent him from travelling. He visited Turkey and Iran throughout the Israel-Hamas war. From Doha, he was involved in negotiations meant to bring about a ceasefire and free the Israeli hostages seized on October 7.
His role in Hamas’s leadership also cost him his closest relatives. In April, an Israeli air strike in Gaza killed three of Haniyeh’s sons, after which he accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder”.
Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed as well as his sister in a separate strike last month.
Gaza takeover
Haniyeh was deeply religious and studied Arabic literature at university. He was known for delivering lengthy speeches using flowery language to his supporters while serving as prime minister in Gaza.
Hani Masri, a veteran Palestinian analyst who met Haniyeh several times, said the late leader’s personality was a natural fit for the head of the group’s political bureau in Doha. He described him as having been sociable and well-spoken.
Haniyeh assumed the position of prime minister in the Palestinian government after Hamas won legislative elections in 2006. He presided over the gravest crisis in the Palestinian leadership in its history, which continues until today.
Hamas violently overran Gaza in 2007, routing forces loyal to Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction and installing itself as ruler of Gaza, with Haniyeh as prime minister.
While Hamas’s Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar is believed to have masterminded the October 7 attacks, Haniyeh, seen as a more moderate force in Hamas, lauded them as a humiliating blow to Israel’s aura of invincibility.
Hours after the attacks, Haniyeh appeared in a video released by Hamas leading prayers with other top Hamas officials. They thanked God for the success of the attack, which blasted through Israel’s vaunted defences and resulted in the deadliest assault in Israel’s history.
Michael Milshtein, a Hamas expert at Tel Aviv University, said Haniyeh had a commanding role in the group’s foreign policy and diplomacy, but was less involved in military affairs.
“He was responsible for propaganda, for diplomatic relations, but he was not very powerful,” said Milshtein, a former military intelligence officer. “From time to time, Sinwar even laughed and joked: ‘He’s the more moderate, sophisticated leader, but he doesn’t understand anything about warfare.’”
Still, Israel pledged to target all of Hamas’s leaders following the attacks and has gradually worked to fulfil that promise.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP)
