In one word, who was Ismail Haniyeh?

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the early hours of Wednesday morning in Tehran, the capital city of Iran. His death has earned widespread reactions and condemnations from the leaders of across the world, especially the region. His death has already raised fear of wider escalation in a region that is already destabilized by Israel’s war in Gaza and worsening conflict in Lebanon.

Iranian state television confirmed that Haniyeh had died as a result of a terrorist attack on his residency in Tehran, but no more details were given in the circumstances of the incident. Haniyeh along with other senior members of Hamas visited Iran on Tuesday to participate in the inauguration ceremony of the new president of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian.

As the political leader of Hamas, he was instrumental in the group’s high-risk negotiations and diplomacy, including the cease-fire negotiations with Israel.

A glance on Ismail Haniyeh’s political activities

In 2006, Haniyeh was appointed as the leader of Hamas in Gaza. That year, he served briefly as prime minister of a Palestinian unity government that collapsed after months of tension that included armed conflict between Palestinian factions.

Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh (center) at the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran, Iran, on July 30, a day before his assassination. AP

In 2017, he was elected as the leader of the political bureau of Hamas. In recent years, Haniyeh led Hamas from Qatar and Turkey. He was among the negotiators in the ongoing talks between Israel and Hamas, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States to end the Gaza war in exchange for hostages taken in Hamas’ attack on Israel.

How Haniyeh reached the power

Haniyeh was born in 1962 in a refugee camp in the north of Gaza city, following his parents’ displacement from their home in present-day Israel to Ashkelon in 1948.

He was educated in schools run by the main UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and studied Arabic literature at the Islamic University of Gaza.

He was arrested by the Israeli army and was imprisoned several times in Israeli prisons in the 1980s and 1990s.

His rise to power in Gaza was aided by his mentor, the spiritual leader and founder of Hamas, Sheikh Yassin.  Haniyeh was serving as Yassin’s personal secretary and both were the target of the Israeli assassination attempt in 2003. The following year, Yassin was killed by the Israeli army.

“You don’t have to cry,” Haniyeh told a crowd gathered outside the Shafa hospital in Gaza City who came there at that time to mourn the loss of Yassin. “You have to be steadfast and ready for revenge,” Haniyeh told the gathering.

Haniyeh lost almost entire family members in war against Israel

It has not been an easy journey for Haniyeh in the course of his struggle for freedom of Palestine against Israeli occupation. In June, Haniyeh’s sister and her family were killed in an Israeli army raid on his home in Gaza. In April, three of Haniyeh’s 13 sons were killed by Israeli forces in another military operation in Gaza. “We will not surrender and we are ready for sacrifices,” Haniyeh said at the time, noting that he had lost dozens of his family members in the war.