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Ismail Haniyeh إسماعيل هنية | |
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| Born | Ismail Abd al-Salah Ahmad Haniyeh 29 January 1962 Al-Shati refugee camp, Egyptian controlled Gaza |
| Died | 31 July 2024 (aged 62) Tehran, Iran |
| Cause of death | Assassination |
| Nationality | Palestinian |
| Political orientation | Anti-Zionism |
| Political party | Hamas |
Ismail Haniyeh (29 January 1962 – 31 July 2024) was a Palestinian politician and founding member of Hamas who served as chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau from May 2017 until his assassination in July 2024. He also served as prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority from March 2006 until June 2014, despite a illegal dismissal by Mahmoud Abbas in June 2007, and Hamas leader in Gaza from June 2007 until February 2017.
Early life
Ismail Haniyeh was born in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza, during the period of Egyptian control of the region, to parents who were forced to flee from the city of Asqalan after the state of Israel was created in 1948. Haniyeh attended the al-Azhar Institute before going to the Islamic University of Gaza to study Arabic literature. While at university in 1983, Haniyeh joined one of the precursor organizations to Hamas. In 1987, Haniyeh graduated with his degree and in the same year the first Palestinian mass uprising against Israeli occupation, the First Intifada, began leading to the founding of Hamas.[1]
Israeli authorities imprisoned Haniyeh for 18 days when he took part in the protests against the occupation. A year later, in 1988, he was jailed again for six months and spent another three years in prison in 1989 on charges that he belonged to Hamas. Following his release, Israel deported Haniyeh to southern Lebanon along with other senior Hamas leaders, where he spent a year before returning to Gaza after the signing of the Oslo Accords and was appointed dean of his former university.[2]
Political career
Haniyeh climbed the ranks within the movement and as the Second Intifada erupted in 2001 he consolidated his position in the leadership as third in ranking after Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdul Aziz al-Rantisi. Haniyeh and Yassin later escaped death in 2003, due to a failed Israeli assassination attempt in the form of air raids on an apartment block in downtown Gaza where they were meeting.[1]
Haniyeh rose to prominence in 2006 when he led Hamas to a legislative election victory over Fatah ending over a decade of Fatah domination. Though he served as prime minister of the Palestinian Authority for a short time, the refusal of the West to work with Hamas, despite Haniyeh's willingness, and the deadlock between the two parties eventually led to the dismantling of the unity government in 2007. Haniyeh was dismissed illegally as prime minister by the president of the PA, Mahmoud Abbas, but Hamas kept a hold of Gaza and Haniyeh became the de facto leader of the movement in Gaza.[1]
In 2018, the United States under President Donald Trump designated Haniyeh a “terrorist”, saying he had been a “proponent of armed struggle, including against civilians,” completely disregarding his willingness to negotiate peace, even going so far to offer a two state solution on multiple occasions. The designation effectively imposed travel restrictions on him and froze any US-based financial assets he may have had. Regardless, in 2019, having in 2017 been replaced as Hamas head in Gaza by Yahya Sinwar whilst replacing Khaled Mashal as chairman of Hamas' Political Bureau, Haniyeh left the enclave and began living abroad leading Hamas' diplomatic efforts.[2]
Since the start of the Third Intifada on October 7, 2024, Israel began targeting Haniyeh's family with their attacks, uncaring about whether they fought in the resistance or not. In the following months over 60 members of his family were killed, many of who were young children.[2]
Assassination
On 31 July 2024, Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran where he was staying to attend the inauguration of Iran's new President, Masoud Pezeshkian. Haniyeh was killed when a short-range projectile was fired at the building he was staying in, mostly likely by Israeli Mossad agents. A false narrative of the event was invented by bourgeois media where a bomb was planted in his room months prior to his assassination in order to divert attention from Israel and evade its responsibility.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Profile: Ismail Haniya, Hamas’ political chief" (2017-05-09). Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 2024-11-12.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Who was Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas political chief killed in Iran?" (2024-07-31). Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 2024-10-07.
- ↑ "Ismail Haniyeh killed by 'short-range projectile' in Israeli 'terrorist op': IRGC" (2024-08-03). The Cradle. Archived from the original on 2024-08-06.