Ismail Haniyeh: A Profile of the Hamas Leader and his Mysterious Death in Iran

The leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was murdered in Tehran, Iran, on July 31, as announced by the Palestinian militant group. As per Iranian state media, Haniyeh along with one of his bodyguards were eliminated in an attack on the building they were residing in.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reported that Haniyeh was present in Tehran to participate in the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian when the event took place.

Hamas issued a statement denouncing the assault and stating that Haniyeh was killed in “a deceitful Zionist incursion on his residence in Tehran”. This accusation has not been verified by Iranian authorities. 

Below are some details about the Hamas leader:

1. Ismail Haniyeh was born on January 29, 1962, in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, Gaza Strip. His family, Palestinian refugees, fled their home near the present-day Israeli town of Ashkelon during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. He studied Arabic literature at the Islamic University of Gaza, graduating in 1987. 

2. Haniyeh’s political engagement commenced in the 1980s as a student leader at the Islamic University. He played a crucial role in the establishment of Hamas in 1987 and became a close advisor to Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Following Yassin’s assassination in 2004, Haniyeh assumed the position of deputy chief of Hamas’s political bureau. In 2017, he took over from Khaled Mashal as the political head of Hamas.

3. In 1988, he was apprehended by Israeli authorities for participating in the First Intifada, a widespread revolt against Israeli occupation that began in 1987 and lasted until 1993. He spent six months in prison and was arrested again in 1989. In 1992, he was expelled to south Lebanon along with 400 other Islamists.

4. Haniyeh was appointed as the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority in 2006, a role he served in until 2007. During this period, Hamas obtained an unexpected majority in the 2006 Palestinian legislative council elections. Nonetheless, internal conflict with rival Fatah resulted in the dissolution of the government and the establishment of an autonomous Hamas-led administration in the Gaza Strip, overseen by Haniyeh from 2007 to 2014. 

5. Ismail Haniyeh had a spouse and was a father to five children. His three sons, Hazem, Amir, and Mohammad, were slain in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza on April 10, 2024. 

Israel pledged to eliminate Ismail Haniyeh and dismantle Hamas following the October 7 assault that led to the demise of 1,195 individuals. Since then, Israel’s conflict with Gaza has resulted in the deaths of 39,400 individuals and injuries to 90,923 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.