Ismail Haniyeh, a prominent Palestinian figure and leader of the political wing of Hamas, was killed this Wednesday in an airstrike on his residence in Tehran.
The 62-year-old leader, considered a prominent face of Hamas for decades and killed in an airstrike this Wednesday in Irandirected the political office of the Islamist group from their exile in Qatar in recent years. But when did he start his political career and what role did he play in the Hamas ruling class?
Ismail Haniyeh was born on January 29, 1963 in the Al-Shati refugee camp, in the Gaza Strip. He began his political career by aligning himself closely with Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and joined the paramilitary group during the First Intifada in the late 1980s.
Imprisoned several times for participating in the First Intifada in Israel before leaving Gaza, he became a important Hamas leader during its years of activity. Haniyeh, nicknamed ‘Abu al-Abd’, was namedmember of the secret “collective leadership” team in 2004after Israel killed Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi, the two previous leaders of Hamas.
It became for the first time Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority in 2006following Hamas’s victory in the Palestinian parliamentary elections, and has since gained international attention.
Leader of Hamas’s political arm since 2017
In 2017succeeded Khalid Mashael as head of Hamas political office, and shortly after he was declared a wanted terrorist by the United States. The Donald Trump Administration had said that the measure was intended cut off access to international financial resources.
Following the October 7 attack by Hamas fighters on Israeli territory, in which the group’s militants killed at least 1,200 people and took more than 200 hostages, as well as during the war in the Gaza Strip, in which Israeli attacks have killed more than 39,000 Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh claimed a relevant role as a representative of Hamas in the International negotiations.
Israeli authorities held him responsible several times for the failure of peace talks and the release of hostages. Despite occupying a leadership position, Ismail Haniyeh has been object of internal criticism within Hamas on several occasions.
It has been reported disagreements between Haniyehand Yahya Sinwar, the military leader of Hamas in Gazaon the approach to ceasefire negotiations and military strategies.
Haniyeh’s leadership was also questioned at times by some Hamas members, who criticized the lack of connection between their actions and the reality on the ground in the war between Israel and Hamas.
In April, Israeli police arrested one of his sisters under suspicion of having links with members of the movement. Shortly after, three of his children and four grandchildren died in Israeli airstrikes.
Haniyeh, who lived in Qatar in the last years of his life, He was on his way to attend the inauguration of Masoud Pezeshkian and to meet with the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Observers say Haniyeh’s death has dealt a serious blow to Hamas at a time when Tensions rise in the Middle East by the devastating war in Gaza, and has sparked doubts about the future of the negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
