At the time of his death in Tehran, where he was to attend the swearing-in of newly elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Ismail Haniyeh was nominally the highest-ranking leader of the Hamas terror organization.
Before becoming the Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau, the 62-year-old leader had his start, like many Hamas leaders, in the Gaza Strip.
Born in 1963 in al-Shati, to parents who left their homes in Ashkelon during the 1948 war for Israel's independence, Haniyeh grew up in Gaza, attending the Islamic University of Gaza, which grew out of the al-Azhar Institute, where he obtained a degree in Arabic literature.
During his time at university, Haniyeh was a member of an Islamic student group associated with Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin.
Just after he graduated in 1987, the First Intifada started in Gaza, and Haniyeh took part in the demonstrations. Haniyeh was arrested by multiple times by Israeli authorities, after joining the newly founded Hamas group. He was deported to southern Lebanon in 1993 along with other Hamas leaders.
However, this exile was short-lived, as Haniyeh returned to Gaza the next year.
In 1997, Haniyeh became the assistant of Hamas founder Sheikh Yassin, and quickly gained prominence in the movement, being appointed as Hamas' representative to the Palestinian Authority.
In 2003, Haniyeh was almost killed in an airstrike targeting Yassin. The following year, Israel successfully targeted Sheikh Yassin and his successor, Abdel-Aziz Rantissi.
Haniyeh, and two other Hamas officials, were then appointed as "collective leaders."
During the January 2006 Palestinian elections, Haniyeh headed the Hamas "List of Change and Reform," and after its victory, was nominated as prime minister of the Palestinian Authority.
Haniyeh first rose to international prominence following his appointment to the role of prime minister. The years 2006 and 2007 saw intense fighting between Fatah and Hamas over control of the Palestinian Authority. In 2007, following the bloody Battle of Gaza between the two groups for control over the Strip, Hamas gained de facto control over Gaza, and Haniyeh assumed political leadership there.
In 2016, Haniyeh left Gaza and took up residence in Qatar, where he kept an official Hamas office in the capital of Doha after being named the political leader in place of Khaled Meshaal.
The leadership of Gaza was assumed by military commander Yahya Sinwar, who along with Mohammed Deif is considered to be one of the chief architects of the Oct. 7 attacks.
After his appointment, Polit Bureau leader Haniyeh was named a "specially designated global terrorist" by the United States.
Haniyeh worked to improve ties with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and in 2020, the two met personally, beginning a new period of open Turkish support for Hamas, including hosting several Hamas leaders staying in the country. Erdoğan has repeatedly refused to condemn Hamas attacks against Israel or to call Hamas a terror organization. Haniyeh visited Turkey frequently as the relations warmed between Hamas political leadership and the Turkish government.
Haniyeh also maintained a close relationship with Iran, where he frequently traveled to meet with Iranian leadership. Haniyeh met with the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force Qassem Soleimani on several occasions, both in Iran and in Gaza.
Soleimani was instrumental, both in providing arms to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, as well as supporting the work of constructing the tunnel system under Gaza and building weapons workshops.
On Oct. 7, Haniyeh, who was visiting Turkey at the time, gave a speech blaming Israel for the attacks.
"How many times have we warned you that the Palestinian people have been living in refugee camps for 75 years, and you refuse to recognize the rights of our people?" he asked.
Since Oct. 7, Haniyeh had been a key figure participating in international negotiations over the conflict, including the hostage release ceasefire deal being negotiated between Israel and Hamas.
The Gaza War has also affected Haniyeh personally. In April, one of Haniyeh's sisters, who lives in Israel and is married to an Israeli Bedouin, was arrested by Israeli police for supporting terror activities.
Just a week later, three of Haniyeh's sons were killed in an Israeli strike near Gaza City in April, with Israel providing evidence that all three were military operatives in Hamas. Haniyeh stated that their deaths would not affect the hostage negotiations.
In June, another of Haniyeh's sisters was killed in an Israeli airstrike on property owned by the Haniyeh family in al-Shati.
Haniyeh most recently spoke with Qatari and Egyptian mediators at the beginning of July. His death is expected to have a significant influence on the hostage negotiations as Haniyeh was seen as the principal Hamas figure in the discussions.
Republished with permission from All Israel News