Ismail Haniyeh
Ismail Haniyeh was a Palestinian politician who served as third chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau from May 2017 until his assassination in July 2024. He also served as the prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority from March 2006 until June 2014 and the first Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip from June 2007 until February 2017, where he was succeeded by Yahya Sinwar.
Haniyeh was born in the al-Shati refugee camp in the then Egyptian-administered Gaza Strip in 1962 or 1963, to parents who were expelled or fled from Al-Jura during the 1948 Palestine war. He earned a bachelor's degree in Arabic literature from the Islamic University of Gaza in 1987, where he first became involved with Hamas, which was formed during the First Intifada against the Israeli occupation. His involvement led to his imprisonment for three short periods after participating in protests. After his release in 1992, he was exiled to Lebanon, returning a year later to become a dean at Gaza's Islamic University. Haniyeh was appointed to head a Hamas office in 1997 and subsequently rose in the ranks of the organization.
Haniyeh was head of the Hamas list that won the Palestinian legislative elections of 2006, which campaigned on armed resistance against Israel, and so became Prime Minister of the State of Palestine. However, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007. Due to the then-ongoing Fatah–Hamas conflict, Haniyeh did not acknowledge Abbas' decree and continued to exercise prime ministerial authority in the Gaza Strip. Haniyeh was the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip from 2006 until February 2017, when he was replaced by Yahya Sinwar. Haniyeh was seen by many diplomats as one of the more pragmatic and moderate figures in Hamas. From 2017 until his assassination in 2024, he had mostly lived in Qatar.
On 6 May 2017, Haniyeh was elected chairman of Hamas's Political Bureau, replacing Khaled Mashal; at the time, Haniyeh relocated from the Gaza Strip to Qatar. Under his tenure, Hamas launched the October 7 attacks, and subsequently Israel declared its intention to assassinate all Hamas leaders. In May 2024, Karim Khan, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, announced his intention to apply for an arrest warrant for Haniyeh, and other Hamas leaders, for war crimes and crimes against humanity, as part of the ICC investigation in Palestine. On 31 July 2024, Haniyeh was assassinated by an explosive device planted in his guesthouse in Tehran, likely by Israeli Mossad agents. At the time of his death, he had been leading cease-fire negotiations with Israel for Hamas.
Early life and education
Ismail Abdulsalam Ahmed Haniyeh was born to a family of Muslim Palestinians in the al-Shati refugee camp of the Egyptian-administered Gaza Strip. His parents were expelled or fled from Al-Jura in what is now Ashkelon during the 1948 Palestine war, part of the territory where Israel was then established. In his youth, he worked in Israel to support his family. He attended United Nations–run schools and graduated from the Islamic University of Gaza with a degree in Arabic literature in 1987. He became involved with Hamas while at university. From 1985 to 1986, he was head of the students' council representing the Muslim Brotherhood. He played as a midfielder in the Islamic Association football team. He graduated at about the time that the First Intifada against the Israeli occupation broke out, during which he participated in protests against Israel.Early activism
Haniyeh participated in protests in the First Intifada and was given a short prison sentence by an Israeli military court. He was detained by Israel again in 1988 and imprisoned for six months. In 1989, he was imprisoned for three years.Following his release in 1992, the Israeli military authorities of the occupied Palestinian territories exiled him to Lebanon with senior Hamas leaders Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, Mahmoud Zahhar, Aziz Duwaik, and 400 other activists. The activists stayed at Marj al-Zahour in southern Lebanon for over a year, where, according to BBC News, Hamas "received unprecedented media exposure and became known throughout the world". A year later, he returned to Gaza and was appointed dean of the Islamic University.
Political career
Hamas
After Israel released Ahmed Yassin from prison in 1997, Haniyeh was appointed to head his office. His prominence within Hamas grew due to his relationship with Yassin and he was appointed as the representative to the Palestinian Authority. His position within Hamas continued to strengthen during the Second Intifada due to his relationship with Yassin, and because of the assassinations of much of the Hamas leadership by the Israeli security forces. He was targeted by the Israel Defense Forces for his alleged involvement in attacks against Israeli citizens. Following a suicide bombing in Jerusalem in 2003, he was slightly injured on his hand by an Israeli Air Force bomb attack attempting to eliminate the Hamas leadership. In December 2005, Haniyeh was elected to head the Hamas list, which won the Legislative Council elections the following month. Haniyeh succeeded Khaled Mashaal's head leadership of Hamas in elections held in 2016.Prime minister
Haniyeh was nominated as prime minister on 16 February 2006 following the Hamas "List of Change and Reform" victory on 25 January 2006. He was formally presented to president Mahmoud Abbas on 20 February and was sworn in on 29 March 2006.Western reaction
Israel implemented a series of punitive measures, including economic sanctions, against the Palestinian Authority following the election. Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, announced that Israel would not transfer to the Palestinian Authority an estimated $50 million per month in tax receipts that were collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. Haniyeh dismissed the sanctions, stating that Hamas would neither disarm nor would it recognize Israel.Haniyeh expressed regret that Hamas was subjected to punitive measures, adding that "it should have responded differently to the democracy expressed by the Palestinian people".
The United States demanded that $50 million in unexpended foreign aid funds for the Palestinian Authority be returned to the United States, which Palestinian Economic Minister Mazen Sonokrot agreed to do. On the loss of foreign aid from the United States and the European Union, Haniyeh commented that: "The West is always using its donations to apply pressure on the Palestinian people."
Several months after Hamas' 2006 election victory, Haniyeh sent a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush, in which he called on the "American government to have direct negotiations with the elected government", offered a long-term truce with Israel, while accepting a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders and urged an end to the international boycott, claiming that it would "encourage violence and chaos". The U.S. government did not respond and maintained its boycott.
Dispute with Abbas
An agreement with Abbas was to have been reached to stop Abbas's call for new elections. On 20 October 2006, on the eve of this deal to end factional fighting between Fatah and Hamas, Haniyeh's convoy came under gunfire in Gaza and one of the cars was set on fire. Haniyeh was not hurt in the attack. Hamas sources said that this was not an assassination attempt. Palestinian Authority security sources reported that the attackers were the relatives of a Fatah man killed by clashes with Hamas.Denied re-entry to Gaza
During the simmering Fatah–Hamas conflict, on 14 December 2006, Haniyeh was denied entry to Gaza from Egypt at the Rafah Border Crossing. The border crossing was closed by order of Israeli Minister of Defence Amir Peretz. Haniyeh was returning to Gaza from his first official trip abroad as prime minister. He was carrying an estimated US$30 million in cash, intended for Palestinian Authority payments. Israeli authorities later stated that they would allow Haniyeh to cross the border provided he left the money in Egypt, which would reportedly be transferred to an Arab League bank account. A gun battle between Hamas militants and the Palestinian Presidential Guard was reported at the Rafah Border Crossing in response to the incident. The EU monitors who operated the crossing were reportedly evacuated safely. When Haniyeh later attempted to cross the border, an exchange of gunfire left one bodyguard dead and Haniyeh's eldest son wounded. Hamas denounced the incident as an attempt by rival Fatah on Haniyeh's life, prompting firefights in the West Bank and Gaza Strip between Hamas and Fatah forces. Haniyeh was quoted as saying that he knew who the alleged perpetrators were, but declined to identify them and appealed for Palestinian unity. Egypt offered to mediate the situation.Palestinian National Unity Government of March 2007
Haniyeh resigned on 15 February 2007 as part of the process to form a national unity government between Hamas and Fatah. He formed a new government on 18 March 2007 as head of a new cabinet that included Fatah as well as Hamas politicians.On 14 June 2007, amid the Battle of Gaza, President Mahmoud Abbas announced the dissolution of the March 2007 unity government and the declaration of a state of emergency. Haniyeh was dismissed and Abbas ruled Gaza and the West Bank by presidential decree.
After the Battle of Gaza
Around 2016, Haniyeh relocated from Gaza to Qatar. He maintained an office in Doha.On 13 October 2016, the Legal Committee of the Palestinian Legislative Council endorsed a request for the return of Haniyeh's government to the Gaza Strip, following its resignation on 2 June 2014. The endorsement was made in response to PLC's review of a study submitted by members of Hamas' parliament, angry about perceived government failings following Haniyeh's resignation. In Hamas' own words, denouncing the consensus government's "reneging on the internal accord between Hamas and factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization to form the 2014 consensus government, and replacing several ministers with Fatah leaders – turning it into a Fatah government." Despite the PLC recommendation and Hamas' plea, both the consensus government and Fatah refused the request, citing in a press release its illegality and risk of further divisions between Hamas-controlled Gaza and the West Bank.