Who is Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated?

He attended the oath ceremony in Tehran

Ismail Haniyeh, one of the leading figures of Hamas since its founding, was appointed as the Prime Minister of Palestine in 2006 but was dismissed by the Fatah organization after the violence in Gaza the following year.

Haniyeh was elected Head of Hamas' Political Bureau in 2017. The USA added Haniye to the "terrorist list" in 2018.

Ismail Haniyeh, who left Gaza the same year, lived mostly in Qatar.

Ismail Haniyeh (1962/1963 – 31 July 2024) was a Palestinian political figure who was the political leader of the Hamas organization that has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007. From 2017 until his assassination in 2024, he had mostly lived in Qatar.

Haniyeh also frequently visited Hamas's diplomatic missions in Iran and Turkey after the October 7 attacks.

All three of Haniye's sons lost their lives in the Israeli air strike in Gaza on April 10.

Who is Ismail Haniye?

63-year-old Ismail Haniyeh was born in 1962 in Al Shati Refugee Camp in Palestine.

Haniyeh, who received his primary education in institutions managed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), studied Arabic Literature at the Islamic University of Gaza. His encounter with Hamas coincided with his university years.

Haniyeh, who was involved in the Palestinian cause from a young age, became a leading member of Hamas in the late 1980s.

He was arrested during the First Intifada and remained in prison for three years.

In 1992, he was exiled along with some Hamas leaders to the neutral zone between Israel and Lebanon. He returned to Gaza after exile. In 1997, he became head of Sheik Ahmed Yassin's office, Hamas's spiritual leader, and strengthened his position.

Haniye was appointed Prime Minister of Palestine by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2006 but was dismissed a year later, at the end of a week-long bloody power struggle between Fatah and Hamas in Gaza.

Describing his dismissal as "unconstitutional", Haniye continued to rule Gaza.

Haniye was married and had 13 children.

On May 6, 2017, Haniyeh was elected Head of the Political Bureau of Hamas by the Shura Council of the Islamic Resistance Movement, replacing Khalid Mishal.

Head of Hamas' Political Bureau is the highest-ranking position within Hamas.

He lived in exile for many years

The United States Department of State defined Haniye as a terrorist in 2018.

After being identified as a "terrorist", Haniyeh went to Qatar, where Hamas has its diplomatic headquarters and where negotiations with Israel were held from time to time, and he lived in exile.