Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh Assassinated by Israel

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran on Wednesday, as reported by Iranian state media. Both Hamas and Iranian authorities blame Israel for the killing.

Haniyeh, widely recognized as Hamas’ overall leader, became prominent in the late 1980s. In 1989, Israel imprisoned him for three years during the crackdown on the first Palestinian uprising.

At the time of his death, Haniyeh had been living in Qatar, following his designation as a terrorist by the US Department of State in 2018.

Haniyeh had often been away from Palestine, having been exiled to a no-man’s-land between Israel and Lebanon in 1992 along with other leaders. After a year in exile, he returned to Gaza and in 1997 was appointed head of the office of Hamas’s spiritual leader, solidifying his influence.

In 2006, President Mahmoud Abbas appointed Haniyeh as Palestinian prime minister after Hamas secured the most seats in national elections. However, he was dismissed a year later after Hamas ousted Abbas’ Fatah party from the Gaza Strip in a violent conflict. Haniyeh rejected his dismissal as “unconstitutional” and continued to rule in Gaza, emphasizing his government’s commitment to the Palestinian people. In 2017, he was elected head of Hamas’s political bureau.