He was a key figure in the attempt to achieve a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. With Ismail Haniya, the terrorist organization has lost its most visible figure to the outside world.
With the killing of Ismail Haniya, Hamas has lost what is probably its most important and visible leader outside the Gaza Strip. Haniya, who was part of the Islamist terrorist organization for decades, was a key figure for international mediators in the ongoing war with Israel in the Gaza Strip in an attempt to negotiate a ceasefire and the exchange of hostages for prisoners. The future of these negotiations is now completely uncertain due to his death.
On Hamas in the late 1980s
Haniya was born in 1963 in the Shatti refugee camp in Gaza and grew up there in poverty. His parents were expelled from Askalan, which later became the Israeli town of Ashkelon. He joined Hamas as a young man in the late 1980s during the first Palestinian uprising (Intifada) against the Israeli occupation. In the years that followed, he served several prison sentences in Israeli prisons, returning to Gaza in 1993.
He soon made a name for himself as a close confidant of Hamas spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin, who was killed in a targeted Israeli airstrike in 2004. After Hamas’ victory over the rival Palestinian Fatah movement in the 2006 elections, he briefly served as prime minister of the Palestinian Authority. In 2017, he led a Hamas delegation to meet with Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Ismael Hanija: Luxury life in Qatar
Haniya had become a political leader and was soon added to the US list of global terrorists. He lived in Qatar, reportedly in luxury with parts of his family. In April, however, three of his sons and four of his grandchildren were killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza. Israel held him partly responsible for the brutal terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7, which led to the Gaza war, and had announced that it would eliminate the entire Hamas leadership.
Within the Hamas leadership, Haniya was seen as a more realistic voice – and as the name for Hamas diplomacy in the Middle East. A kind of pragmatist compared to Jihia al Sinwar, the Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, and his deputy Mohammed Deif. Haniya played a crucial role in negotiating with Israel via the intermediaries Qatar, Egypt and the USA. Whether and how these negotiations will continue is completely open. A successor will have to be found for Haniya. But it would not be the first time for Hamas.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
