Ismail Haniyeh was 62 years old and had been the political head of Hamas since 2017. He was born in a refugee camp in Gaza, to parents who fled the city of Asqalan after the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. Since 2019 he had been living in Doha, Qatar (which had granted him political asylum), and these days he was in Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
As a young man, he studied at al-Azhar Institute and graduated from the Islamic University of Gaza with a degree in Arabic literature. In 1983, he joined the Islamic Student Bloc, considered a precursor to Hamas. He rose through the ranks of the movement, becoming a close associate of its co-founder, the late Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
Haniyeh was imprisoned in Israel following protests in 1987 and 1988. In 1992 he was arrested again and deported with others to southern Lebanon, later returning to Gaza. He also escaped several attacks. In 1993 he returned to Gaza and became dean of the Islamic University.
His political career saw him occupy the role of Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority from 2006 to 2007. Due to strong internal tensions – between Abu Mazen and Hamas – he was then charged with forming a government of national unity that however was short-lived and ended with the capture of the Gaza Strip by Hamas. He was married and had 13 children, three of whom were killed in an Israeli raid earlier this year.
