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Hamas's top leader Ismail Haniyeh, killed in a target at his residence in Iran, was a tough-talking face of the Palestinian outfit's international diplomacy.
The 62-year-old and one of his bodyguards, Hamas claimed, were killed following an "Israeli" raid. The group alleged Haniyeh was killed in "a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran".
Acting as a negotiator in the Israel-Gaza war, Ismail Haniyeh was seen by many diplomats as a moderate as opposed to the several hardline members of the group, supported by Iran, news agency Reuters reported.
He led Hamas's political operations from exile in Qatar, and his killing came a day after he attended the inauguration ceremony of Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian. The 62-year-old also met Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ISMAIL HANIYEH:
1. Ismail Haniyeh was born in 1963 in Gaza's Shati refugee camp.
2. He joined Hamas in the late 1980s, and swiftly rose through the ranks before claiming the top job in 2017. His first rise to prominence was as a close associate of Hamas's founder and spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
3. Ismail Haniyeh was a student activist at the Islamic University in Gaza City. He joined the Palestinian outfit when it was created in the First Palestinian intifada (uprising) in 1987.
4. He served multiple sentences in Israeli prisons in the 1980s and 1990s.
5. He was arrested and deported from Gaza to Lebanon in 1992 along with hundreds of others, before returning to Gaza the following year.
6. A Sunni Muslim, Ismail Haniyeh had a major hand building up Hamas's fighting capacity, partly by fostering ties with Shi'ite Muslim Iran. In 2017, he led a high-level Hamas delegation to Iran where he met Khamenei.
7. He became the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority following Hamas's victory in the 2006 legislative election, but was dismissed from the post by President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007.
8. Ismail Haniyeh moved between Turkey and Doha, Qatar's capital, escaping the travel restrictions of the blockaded Gaza Strip and allowing him to act as a negotiator in Gaza truce talks or talk to Iran.
9. Three of his sons - Hazem, Amir and Mohammad - were killed on April 10 when an Israeli air strike struck the car they were driving. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the men were "en route to carry out terror activity in the area of central Gaza". Hamas said Haniyeh also lost four grandchildren in the attack.
10. Ismail Haniyeh had denied Israeli claims that his sons were Hamas fighters.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Published On:
Jul 31, 2024
