TEHRAN - The assassination of Ismail Haniyah in the Iranian capital, Tehran, ended his long journey of resistance across various levels.

From a student activist to leading the political bureau of Hamas, martyr Ismail Haniyeh has presented a model of Palestinian resistance and provided Palestine with a leader whose name will be added to the long list of its legendary leaders in their struggle for statehood.  

Early life

Haniyeh was born in exile in 1963 in the central Gaza Strip’s Shati refugee camp. His parents were forcibly displaced by the Israeli military from their home in the town of Asqalan (now known as Ashkelon).

This was to make way for Israeli settlers to move into his parents’ house following the Nakba of 1948.

He graduated in 1987 from the Islamic University of Gaza with a degree in Arabic literature and then obtained his PhD from the same university in 2009.

Political activity

Haniyeh began his activism against Israeli colonialism and occupation with the "Islamic Bloc" which represented the student arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Gaza Strip, from which the resistance movement Hamas emerged.

He was a member of the Student Council of the Islamic University in Gaza between 1983 and 1984, and then served as its president the following year.

Imprisonment

Haniyeh was arrested by the Israeli occupation authorities in 1989 and spent three years in prison. The Israelis then exiled him to Marj al-Zohour on the Lebanese - (Israeli-occupied) Palestinian border along with a group of Hamas leaders.

Return from exile

He returned to the Gaza Strip after being forced to spend a year in exile. Haniyah was appointed as a dean at the Islamic University in the enclave.

Politics

In 1997, he was appointed as head of the office of the founder of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
He was elected the chief of Hamas in the Gaza Strip following the assassination of Sheikh Yassin and his successor Dr. Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi in 2004.

In December 2005, he headed the Change and Reform list, which won the majority in the second Palestinian legislative elections in 2006.

The movement nominated him on February 16, 2006, to the position of Prime Minister of Palestine. He took over the prime ministerial post on the 20th of that month.
In May 2017, Haniyah was elected as the head of the political bureau of Hamas, succeeding Khaled Meshaal, before leaving Gaza for exile in Qatar two years later. 

Assassination attempts

Ismail Haniyeh survived several assassination attempts, the last of which was in 2003, when Israeli fighter jets carried out an airstrike targeting a group of resistance leaders following a military operation by the armed wing of Hamas, the al-Qassam brigades.

Operation al-Aqsa Storm

As soon as Hamas launched Operation al-Aqsa Storm on October 7, 2023, Haniyeh appeared in a video, broadcast from Qatar, by media outlets, jubilant with the movement's leaders in his office in Doha, while he was following a report on one of the Arab channels about fighters from the al-Qassam Brigades seizing Israeli military vehicles.

He then led a prayer "to thank God for this victory".

On April 10, 2024, seven members of Haniyeh’s family, including three of his children and at least four of his grandchildren, were assassinated in an Israeli bombing that targeted a vehicle carrying them in the Shati refugee camp as they were traveling to pay respect to the camp’s victims amid the genocidal Israeli war on Gaza during the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

Additionally, ten members of his family, including his sister, were assassinated in an Israeli bombing that targeted their home in the Beach Camp west of Gaza on June 24.
Commenting on the incident, Haniyeh stated that the blood of his sister Umm Nahed and her children and grandchildren mix with the blood of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and all places where the Palestinian people are.

It will only "increase our steadfastness and resolve in the path and certainty of victory," emphasizing that they "achieved martyrdom in a blessed rank and a victorious, eternal battle".

As many as 60 relatives of Haniyah have been killed by the Israeli occupation forces since October 7, 2023. This is while Haniyah was a political leader and not a member of the armed wing of Hamas. 

Notable positions

Following the news of the assassination of his children and grandchildren this year, he declared that "the blood of my martyred children and grandchildren is no more precious than the blood of the Palestinian people. I thank God for this honor He has granted me with the martyrdom of my three children and some of my grandchildren."

In a speech he delivered in 2014 in response to the ongoing siege on the Gaza Strip, he said, "We are a people who, if your decision is siege, our decision is victory. If the decision is to subdue Gaza and the people, our decision is that we only bow to God. All decision-makers inside and outside Palestine should understand this people's message: We are a people who love death as much as our enemies love life. We love martyrdom for what the leaders died for, as others love their political positions in power. Take all our political positions in power and leave us the homeland."

Haniyah also visited Tehran following the U.S. assassination of the anti-terror icon Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani.

At the funeral procession for General Soleimani on January 6, 2020, Haniyah praised the general’s support and wisdom for the oppressed Palestinian people and told a huge crowd of mourners that the martyr Iranian general is "the martyr of al-Quds, the martyr of al-Quds, the martyr of al-Quds".    

Iconic images

Among the many images that went viral of Haniyah was in the aftermath of an Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip in 2004. The martyr Hamas leader appeared from a mosque that was struck by an Israeli missile and walked towards an ambulance, carrying the body of a very young child, covered in blood, in his arms.    

The world woke up to the news of Haniyeh's assassination as the Hamas leader was waiting to hear news from Lebanon amid another Israeli assassination attempt on a senior Hezbollah leader in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut.

Martyrdom

Haniyah spent his last years among a group of Hamas leaders sheltering outside Gaza, most notably in Doha and unable to return to Palestine.

July 31 was Haniyeh's turn to sacrifice himself for the sake of freedom and the defense of Palestinian land and sanctities adorned by Muslims, Christians and Jews.

The Palestinian resistance movement has witnessed similar assassinations, from Sheikh Ahmed Yassin to Dr. Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi to Saleh al-Arouri. After them, there emerged those who sought vengeance for their blood and continued the path with even greater momentum.

The people will come out to bid farewell to Haniyeh on August 1 and then seek retribution for him, sending a message to the occupation regime that they are committed to the legacy of Haniyah and other Palestinian martyrs by continuing the journey they began.