Ismail Haniyeh

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Lore & Background

Ismail Abdulsalam Ahmed Haniyeh was born in the al-Shati refugee camp in the then Egyptian-administered Gaza Strip in 1962 or 1963, to parents who were expelled or fled from Al-Jura (now part of Ashkelon) during the 1948 Palestine war. He earned a bachelor's degree in Arabic literature from the Islamic University of Gaza in 1987, where he first became involved with Hamas, which was formed during the First Intifada. His involvement led to his imprisonment for three short periods after participating in protests. After his release in 1992, he was exiled to Lebanon, returning a year later to become a dean at Gaza's Islamic University. Haniyeh was appointed to head a Hamas office in 1997 and subsequently rose in the ranks of the organization. He was head of the Hamas list that won the Palestinian legislative elections of 2006, which campaigned on armed resistance against Israel, and so became Prime Minister of the State of Palestine.

Reader's Guide

Haniyeh's significance lies in his leadership of Hamas during a period of major conflict and political change. As head of the Hamas list that won the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections, he became prime minister, though he was dismissed by President Mahmoud Abbas on 14 June 2007 amid the Fatah–Hamas conflict. Haniyeh did not acknowledge Abbas' decree and continued to exercise prime ministerial authority in the Gaza Strip. Under his tenure as chairman of Hamas's Political Bureau, Hamas launched the October 7 attacks, and subsequently Israel declared its intention to assassinate all Hamas leaders. In May 2024, Karim Khan, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, announced his intention to apply for an arrest warrant for Haniyeh, and other Hamas leaders, for war crimes and crimes against humanity, as part of the ICC investigation in Palestine. On 31 July 2024, Haniyeh was assassinated by an explosive device planted in his guesthouse in Tehran, likely by Israeli Mossad agents. At the time of his death, he had been leading cease-fire negotiations with Israel for Hamas.

Did You Know?

• Haniyeh played as a midfielder in the Islamic Association football team while at university.
• He was slightly injured on his hand by an Israeli Air Force bomb attack in 2003 following a suicide bombing in Jerusalem.
• In December 2006, Haniyeh was denied re-entry to Gaza from Egypt at the Rafah Border Crossing while carrying an estimated US$30 million in cash intended for Palestinian Authority payments.
• Haniyeh sent a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush in 2006 offering a long-term truce with Israel while accepting a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, but the U.S. government did not respond.
• He was elected chairman of Hamas's Political Bureau on 6 May 2017, replacing Khaled Mashal.