Who Is Ismail Haniyeh, The Pragmatic Head Behind Hamas?

An Israeli airstrike killed three sons and four grandchildren of Hamas Political Chief, Ismail Haniyeh. Undeterred by the tragedy, the determined leader said “the blood of my children is not more valuable than the blood of the children of the Palestinians people…All the martyrs of Palestine are my children”. The leader portrays the resolute stance of the besieged Gaza’s resistance group, Hamas.

For Haniyeh, the killing of his family members points Israel’s “failure”, and added that Hamas will not move an inch back from the ceasefire negotiation it put forward, which demands a permanent ceasefire and the return of the displaced Palestinians to their homes in exchange of the Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity. This is not the first time the Hamas leader lost family members. During the 2014 war, he lost two of his nephews and parts of his house was destroyed.

Who Is Ismail Haniyeh, the pragmatic head behind Hamas’ moves that often makes Israel sweat?

Ismail Abdulsalam Ahmed Haniyeh has been at the top of Israel’s red list right from the beginning. He was born in the al-Shati refugee camp in the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip in 1962.

While he was doing his graduation in Arabic literature from Gaza’s Al Azhar university, he joined Islamic Student Bloc, a precursor to Hamas, and believed to be affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt, in 1983. He participated in the First Intifada (The Uprising), protesting against the Israeli occupation and was arrested for 18 days in 1987. He was arrested again in 1988 for six months. He was one of the young founding members of Hamas when it was established in 1988. He maintained a close relation with Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader and co-founder of Hamas.

Haniyeh was arrested again in 1989 for three years and was deported to Lebanon in 1992. The leader returned to Gaza in 1993 after the Oslo Accords, an agreement between Israel and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) which promised a peace process to be followed for the hostility. Haniyeh climbed ranks with his skills and close tie with late Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. After Israel released Ahmed Yassin in 1997, Haniyeh was appointed to head his office, and rose in rank.

Haniyeh cemented his position as Hamas political leader at the time of Second Intifada in 2001. He became the third in rank, after Ahmed Yassin and Abdul Aziz al-Rantisi. He escaped death in 2003, as Israel targeted him and Ahmed Yassin.

Haniyeh’s high profile among Hamas has made him target for assassination. Haniyeh and Yassin survived Israeli assassination attempt in 2003 September. Though the two narrowly escaped the attack by escaping the building in Gaza seconds before the Israeli attack hit, Yasin Sheikh Yasin was killed months later. He was killed by the Israeli forces after he left a mosque after dawn prayer.

Ismail Haniyeh rose to prominence after he led Hamas in Palestinian Legislative Assembly in 2006 and became the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority (PA). Haniyeh gained victory over Fatah, which had been in power for over a decade. International Community reacted to Haniyeh’s victory as Prime Minister by freezing aid to the PA. He served as the Prime Minister only for short period of time. The refusal of international government and tension between Fatah and Hamas, which reportedly even included armed conflict, the unity government between the two party was dissolved in 2007. Haniyeh was dismissed as the Prime Minister by Mahmoud Abbas, the President of PA. This led to an autonomous-Hamas led rule in Gaza, with Haniyeh as its head in 2007.

Hamas, and on its behalf Ismail Haniyeh, has been ready for peace talk from 2007 itself, only that Israel has to lift its chokehold on Palestine. In an opinion piece written to The Guardian, he said, “is Israel is serious about peace, it has to recognise these basic rights of our people”. In a news conference in 2010 in Gaza, he said he is ready to accept “a Palestinian state on the borders of 1967, with Jerusalem as its capital”. He also added that Hamas government is willing to work with West who “want to help the Palestinian people regain their rights”.

In 2017, he was elected as Hamas’ head of political wing. In 2019, he moved out of the Gaza Strip and started living in Turkey and Qatar, and started to represent Hamas abroad. Some among his most notable visits were to Iran during Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) leader Qassam Soleimani, who was killed by US drone attack in 2020. He also visited when Ebrahim Raisi was pronounced as president in 2021. He also met with Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian President ending the hostility that rose between the two during the Syrian uprising.

Haniyeh’s sons were killed on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, though Gazans were robbed of all the festivities. The targeted killing came amidst of ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas. Haniyeh said, “if they think that targeting my children at the peak of these talks before the movement’s [Hamas’s] response is submitted will cause Hamas to change its positions, they are delusional”.

The Israeli occupation said that it targeted Haniyeh’s sons by describing them as Hamas military operatives who were trying to “carry out terrorist activities in the central area of the Gaza Strip”. It did not mention the grandchildren they killed during the attack.

Notably, the news of Haniyeh’s family also rubbished Israel’s taunt on fleeing Palestinians that their leaders are relaxing in Qatar while they were forced to go through the brutal war. Turned out, the Hamas leaders’ families and loved ones are still in Gaza, being killed and chased around by the Israeli occupation force. Netizens took the opportunity to call out Benjamin Netanyahu and his son who is reportedly in Miami, and refused to serve in the Israeli army.

DURING A VISIT TO A DOHA HOSPITAL TO SEE GAZA”S WOUNDED, HAMAS LEADER ISMAIL HANIYEH LEARNED OF HIS THREE SONS AND GRANDCHILDREN”S ASSASSINATION BY ISRAEL. CONTRARY TO CLAIMS OF LIVING IN LUXURY, THEY REMAINED IN GAZA, UNLIKE NETANYAHU”S SON WHO IS HIDING IN MIAMI. pic.twitter.com/vijSFdxUyv

— Javeria Sultan (@javeria_sultan1) April 11, 2024

On October 7th, when Hamas attacked Israel Haniyeh was in Istanbul, Turkey. He gave a televised address in which he cited threats to Al-Aqsa mosque, the Israeli blockade of Gaza, and the plight of Palestinian refugees: “How many times have we warned you that the Palestinian people have been living in refugee camps for 75 years, and you refuse to recognise the rights of our people?”.  Israel “ cannot protect itself in the face of resistors”, could not provide protection for other Arab countries, and that “all the normalization agreements that you signed with that entity cannot resolve this”, he added.

An opinion poll conducted on last December showed that that Haniyeh would defeat incumbent Mahmoud Abbas by a landslide for the position of President of the State of Palestine (78% for Haniyeh and 16% for Abbas).