Ismail Haniyeh (29 January 1963 – 31 July 2024) was the former head of the Political Bureau of Hamas, who was assassinated, and a former Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority.

Ismail Haniyeh was born in 1963 in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza, the child of a family that had fled the city of Ashkelon (known at the time as Asqalan) following Israel’s establishment in 1948. He completed his secondary education at the Al-Al-Azhar Institute in Gaza and graduated in 1987 from Gaza Islamic University with a degree in Arab literature.

While still at university in 1983, he joined the Islamic Student Bloc, the precursor to Hamas. During this period he was arrested multiple times by Israeli forces and spent several stints in Israeli prisons throughout the 1980s. Haniyeh witnessed both the outbreak of the First Intifada and the founding of Hamas in the year he graduated, 1987. At age 25, he was imprisoned for 18 day after participating in protests against the Israeli occupation and later received a six-month sentence. In 1989 he was sentenced to three years in prison.

From Prison to Leadership

After his release, Israel expelled Haniyeh along with hundreds of other Palestinian leader and activists to the south of Lebanon. Haniyeh spent a year there, during which the group gained global recognition through media. Following the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, he returned to Gaza at age 31 and began serving as a dean at Gaza Islamic University.

Israel’s Assassination Attempt in 2003

After the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2001, Haniyeh strengthened his position as one of Hamas’s top political leaders. In 2003, Israel bombed a building in central Gaza in an attempt to kill Haniyeh and Hamas’s founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Haniyeh survived the attack, but six moon later Yassin was killed in an Israeli helicopter strike as he left morning prayers.

Political Success and Leadership of Gaza

In 2006, at age 44, Haniyeh led Hamas to victory over Fatah in the Palestinian Legislative Council elections. Haniyeh served as Prime Minister of a duration Palestinian Authority government, but West countries refused to cooperate with Hamas. Violent clashes between Hamas and Fatah that began the same year led to the collapse of the union government in 2007. Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office; however, Haniyeh assumed leadership of a independent government in the Gaza Strip under Hamas’s authority. In response, Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza.

2018 U.S. Terror List Designation and Pragmatic Identity

In 2018, the administration of then USA President Donald Trump designated Haniyeh as a “specifically designated global terrorist.” This decision restricted his travel. Nevertheless, Haniyeh was known within the Palestinian resistance as a pragmatic leader, maintaining open channels of communication with diverse groups.

Exile and Diplomatic Efforts After 2019

In 2019, after leaving Gaza, Haniyeh assumed leadership of Hamas’s Political Bureau and directed the group’s diplomatic efforts. He continued to reside in Qatar and became the international voice of the resistance movement.

Ismail Haniyeh and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan – Presidency Communications Directorate

Losses in His Family

On 10 April 2024, Haniyeh’s three sons—Hazem, Amir, and Muhammad—along with their children, were killed during ongoing war in Gaza. Despite this tragedy, Haniyeh reiterated his call for resistance, saying, “We are building hope, a future, and independence from the blood of martyrs and the pain of the wounded.”

His Death and Aftermath

On 31 July 2024, Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran while attending the swearing-in ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Assassination, the armed wing of Hamas, assessed the attack as signaling that “the war has entered new dimensions with major consequences.” Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned the act as “pain a tragedy” and pledged to “severely punish” Israel. Iran and its allies accused Israel of carrying out the assassination with the support of the United States.

Haniyeh’s death further escalated tensions in Middle East and sparked widespread anger among resistance movements. Hamas declared that it would carry forward Haniyeh’s legacy and continue the struggle.