Hamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh gestures as he delivers a speech over U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Gaza City Dec. 7, 2017. (Credit: Mohammed Salem/Reuters file photo)
Ismail Haniyeh was Hamas' public face and its political and diplomatic showcase, at the heart of recent efforts to broker a cease-fire agreement in the Gaza Strip.
The head of the group’s politburo, who was mostly based in Doha, was killed in a strike attributed to Israel at his residence in Tehran, according to an announcement by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Hamas around 6 a.m. on Tuesday.
Haniyeh’s assassination is a significant blow to Hamas, which is now deprived of a leader who, unlike many figures in the movement who operate clandestinely or rarely appear in public, frequently traveled in the region.
As recently as April, Haniyeh was seen posing for cameras alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at Erdogan's invitation in Istanbul.
Although Israel saw him as a "dead man walking,” Haniyeh, the exiled leader who was appointed at the head of Hamas’ political bureau in 2017 and reappointed in 2021, had been targeted since last May by an International Criminal Court prosecutor's request for an arrest warrant for alleged "crimes against humanity" and "war crimes."
His assassination followed the deaths of three of his sons during the war in Gaza, killed on April 10 in an Israeli airstrike that hit the car they were driving.
At the time, Haniyeh said that the attack would not affect the cease-fire talks, stressing that "the Palestinian people’s interests come first."
Many other members of his family, about 10, were also killed in subsequent Israeli strikes on Gaza.
Haniyeh a pragmatic figure within Hamas?
While some observers believe that the Oct. 7 deadly attacks against Israel were a coup by Hamas’ military wing within the group, with the knowledge of Gaza-based leader Yahya Sinwar, several suggest that Haniyeh was kept unaware of the operation.
This reflects a possible divide between leaders in the coastal enclave and those in exile in Qatar, Lebanon, Egypt or Turkey, who are considered out of touch with on-the-ground realities.
In footage broadcast by Hamas media shortly after the Oct.7 attacks began, Haniyeh was seen smiling broadly alongside other group leaders in his Doha office, watching an Arab television report on the operation’s progress.
Officially espousing an uncompromising stance, Haniyeh, 62, was known for his conciliatory approach and pragmatic leadership, setting him apart from the harsher voices within the Palestinian besieged enclave.
Regarding negotiations for a cease-fire and the release of hostages still held in Gaza, Haniyeh reportedly clashed with Sinwar, seen as Hamas’ actual decision-maker of the movement, pulling all the strings since the beginning of the war.
Like many Hamas leaders, Haniyeh was on the front lines of the fight for the Palestinian cause and survived several assassination attempts before fleeing the Gaza Strip in 2019.
Born in 1962 in the Shati refugee camp (north of Gaza City) to parents displaced from their home in what is now the Israeli city of Ashkelon in 1948, he studied Arabic literature at the Islamic University of Gaza.
Active during the first Intifada (1987-1993), he joined Hamas at its inception in 1987 and served six months in prison in 1988, followed by a three-year sentence in 1989.
Close to the movement's co-founder, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, he became Yassin's personal secretary in 1997 and quickly rose through the ranks.
In 2004, he was appointed to a secret "collective leadership" after the deaths of Sheikh Yassin and the movement's co-founder, Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, in Israeli strikes a few weeks apart.
Specially designated global terrorist
Among the first to advocate for Hamas’ entry into politics, Haniyeh gained international recognition in 2006 when he briefly became Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority's (PA) unity government after Hamas' surprise victory in the legislative elections.
This victory led to a fratricidal war between the group and Fatah, marking the political and geographical split between the two factions.
Haniyeh returned to the Palestinian enclave and served as the head of the Hamas government in Gaza from 2007 to 2014. Considered the de facto leader of the movement in the enclave for many years, Haniyeh only officially became the leader in 2017, succeeding Khaled Meshaal, who had led the political bureau from exile.
In 2018, amid heightened tensions between Washington and the PA following the Trump administration's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Haniyeh was designated a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" by the United States.
Haniyeh has close ties with Hamas' military wing and has been a supporter of armed struggle, including against civilians, according to the US State Department at the time, adding that he was believed to have been involved in terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens.
Before his assassination, the exiled leader was particularly responsible for managing Hamas' finances. The movement held an investment portfolio valued at least at $500 million, according to Washington, with additional international funding from Iran and Qatar.
While the line of succession for Haniyeh is unclear, several names have begun to circulate.
Saleh al-Arouri, deputy head of Hamas’ politburo since 2017, was killed in January in a strike attributed to Israel in southern Beirut.
Moussa Abu Marzouk has recently emerged as an important figure in the movement, having played a key role in the reconciliation sealed in Beijing between 14 Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Fatah.
Abu Marzouk also ran against Haniyeh for the politburo leadership in 2017. Former Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal could also make a return to the group's political scene.
This article was originally published in L'Orient-Le Jour and translated by Sahar Ghoussoub.
