DUBAI: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Iran early on Wednesday, the Palestinian group said, raising fears of a wider escalation in a region rocked by Israel's war in Gaza and a worsening conflict in Lebanon.
Israel has sought to prove it can take on anyone, anywhere. It has killed or attempted to kill Hamas leaders and top operatives since the group was founded in 1987, during the first Palestinian uprising against the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Two years later, Hamas carried out its first attacks against Israeli military targets, including the kidnapping and killing of two Israeli soldiers.
Below is a list of Palestinian leaders and operatives who have been targeted by the most powerful and sophisticated militaries in the Middle East.
Yahya Ayyash
Yahya, nicknamed “The Engineer”, was assassinated in Gaza, then ruled by the PLO. He died on January 5, 1996, when his mobile phone exploded in his hands. Palestinians blamed Israel, which refused to take responsibility. Hamas responded with four suicide attacks that killed 59 people in three Israeli cities over nine days in February and March.
Khaled Meshaal
Former Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal became known around the world in 1997 after Israeli agents injected him with poison in a failed assassination attempt on a street outside his office in the Jordanian capital Amman.
The attack, ordered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, so infuriated Jordan's then-King Hussein that he talked of hanging the would-be assassins and scrapping Jordan's peace treaty with Israel unless the antidote was delivered.
Israel did so, also agreeing to release Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, only to assassinate him seven years later in Gaza.
Ahmed Yassin
On March 22, 2004, Israel killed Hamas co-founder and spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed, a quadriplegic, in a helicopter missile strike as he left a mosque in Gaza City. Israel had attempted to kill him in 2003, when he was at the home of a Hamas member in Gaza.
Thousands of Palestinians marched in Gaza shouting calls for revenge and threatening to “send death to every home” in Israel.
His death sparked widespread protests and condemnation from the Palestinian territories and the broader Muslim world, and marked a significant escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, underscoring deep tensions and challenges to achieving peace in the region.
Abdul Aziz Al Rantisi
On April 17, 2004, a missile fired from an Israeli helicopter at a car in Gaza City killed Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi. Two bodyguards were also killed. Hamas's leadership went underground and the identity of Rantissi's successor was kept secret.
His assassination came shortly after he assumed leadership of Hamas in Gaza following the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
Adnan Al-Ghoul
The Hamas master terrorist was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on October 21, 2004. Ghoul was the number two in Hamas's military wing and was known as the “Father of the Qassam rocket,” an improvised missile frequently fired at Israeli cities.
Nizar Rayyan
A cleric widely regarded as one of Hamas's most hardline political leaders had called for a renewal of suicide bombings inside Israel.
Two of his four wives and seven of his children were also killed in the bombing of the Jabalya refugee camp on January 1, 2009. Days later, an Israeli airstrike killed Hamas Interior Minister Saeed Seyyam in the Gaza Strip on January 15. Seyyam was in charge of 13,000 Hamas police and security agents.
Saleh Al-Arouri
An Israeli drone strike in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, killed Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri on January 2, 2024. Arouri was also the founder of Hamas' military wing, the Qassam Brigades.
Ismail Haniyeh
Haniyeh was killed early Wednesday in Iran, the Palestinian group said.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard confirmed Haniyeh's death, hours after he attended a swearing-in ceremony for the country's new president, and said it was investigating.
Iranian media reported that he was staying at “a special residence for war veterans in northern Tehran.” Today news He said Haniyeh's residence was hit by an aerial shell.
