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- 62 Years of Terror: The Life and Death of Ismail Haniyeh - Hamas' No. 2
62 Years of Terror: The Life and Death of Ismail Haniyeh - Hamas' No. 2
One of the key figures of the Hamas movement in Gaza, Haniyeh's rise to power took him from the Shati refugee camp in Gaza to the personal assistant of Ahmed Yassin, Hamas's founder
Considered a monster in Israel and a hero among supporters of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh was killed early Wednesday in Tehran, Iran.
From working in construction in southern Israel's Ashkelon to his move to Qatar - i24NEWS presents a profile of one of the most powerful people in the Arab world in recent years:
Modest beginnings
Haniyeh was born in 1962 in the Shati refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. His father was born in the village of al-Jura, near Ashkelon, and died in Haniyeh's childhood. In his youth, he worked in Israel as a plasterer. During the 1980s, Haniyeh was active in the Student Council of the Islamic University of Gaza, and served as chairman for two years. During this period, he often clashed with Mohammed Dahlan, who later became one of the leaders of the Fatah movement.
Between 1989 to 1992, he was an inmate in Ketziot prison, and at the end of his sentence he was expelled to South Lebanon. In 1997, after the release of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin from prison, he was appointed to head Yassin's office.
Rise to power
His status gradually grew over the years, mainly after the targeted killing of Yassin and during the Second Intifada. In 2005 he was elected to head the Hamas list in elections held in 2006, beating the rival Fatah party to head the Palestinian Authority government. On December 14, 2006, an assassination attempt was made against him by several Fatah activists. He was not injured, but one of his guards was killed, and his son was wounded.
About half a year after the establishment of the Palestinian unity government in 2007, President Mahmoud Abbas announced that he was dismissed. Hamas did not accept the decision and Haniyeh continued to lead Gaza during Operation Cast Lead in December 2008. Haniyeh hid during the entire war. He notably appeared on two television broadcasts, proclaiming: "Gaza will not break - our victory over the Zionists is near."
Haniyeh was among the leaders who negotiated the Gilad Shalit exchange deal in 2011. In February 2017, Yahya Sinwar was elected in internal elections as the leader of Hamas in Gaza. Since then, Haniyeh replaced Khaled Mashaal as the head of the terror organization's political bureau and moved to Qatar.
Since October 7
During the current war, Haniyeh led the war from afar, negotiating with Israel on the hostage release ceasefire deal in Gaza. During the nine months of the war, he hopped between Qatar, Istanbul, and Beirut. His eldest grandson and granddaughter were killed during the fighting. In April 2024, his sister, who lived in Be'ersheba, was arrested on suspicion of associating with Hamas terrorists and inciting terror. That same month, three of his children and three of his grandchildren were killed together in an Israeli Air Force strike at the Shati refugee camp. On June 25, another one of his sisters was killed in an attack on the refugee camp.
Haniyeh was killed along with a bodyguard in a guesthouse in Tehran, after arriving at the Iranian capital to attend the swearing-in ceremony of President Masoud Pezeshkian.
"We feel our responsibility towards the Palestinian issue, and it is a responsibility that has costs, and we are prepared for these costs," he said in an interview on Al-Jazeera. Death on behalf of Palestine, on behalf of God Almighty, and on behalf of the honor of this people."