Which Hamas leaders have been targeted in assassination attempts?
The head of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza last month, the Israeli military said on Thursday, its eighth attempt to kill him.
Deif was believed to be one of the masterminds of the Oct 7 attack on Israel by the movement, which triggered the Gaza conflict now in its tenth month.
The operation stoked fears of wider escalation in a region shaken by Israel’s incursion in Gaza and a worsening conflict in Lebanon.
Israel has sought to show it can get anyone, anywhere. It has assassinated or attempted to kill leaders of Hamas and key 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 on Israeli military targets, including the kidnap and killing of two Israeli soldiers.
Here is a list of Palestinian leaders and operatives who were targeted by the most powerful and sophisticated military in the Middle East.
Yahya Ayyash
Elusive military mastermind behind a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings nicknamed “The Engineer”, was killed in then PLO-ruled Gaza. He died on Jan 5, 1996, when his cellular phone exploded in his hands. Palestinians blamed Israel, which declined to take responsibility. Hamas retaliated in 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 botched assassination attempt on a street outside his office in the Jordanian capital Amman.
The hit, ordered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, so enraged Jordan’s then-King Hussein that he spoke of hanging the would-be killers and scrapping Jordan’s peace treaty with Israel unless the antidote was handed over.
Israel did so, and also agreed to free Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, only to assassinate him seven years later in Gaza.
Ahmed Yassin
Israel killed the quadriplegic co-founder and spiritual leader of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed, in a helicopter missile strike on March 22, 2004 as he left a mosque in Gaza City. Israel attempted to kill him in 2003 while he was at the house of a Hamas member in Gaza.
Thousands of Palestinians marched in Gaza shouting calls of revenge and threatened to “send death to every home” in Israel.
His death led to widespread protests and condemnation from the Palestinian territories and the broader Muslim world and marked a significant escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, underlining the deep-seated tensions and the challenges of achieving peace in the region.
Abdel-Aziz Al-Rantissi
An Israeli helicopter missile strike on a car in Gaza City killed Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi on April 17, 2004. Two bodyguards were also killed. The Hamas leadership went into hiding and the identity of Rantissi’s successor was kept secret.
His assassination came shortly after he had taken over as Hamas leader in Gaza following the killing of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
Adnan Al-Ghoul
Hamas master bomber Adnan Al-Ghoul was killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on Oct. 21, 2004. Ghoul was number 2 in the military wing of Hamas and known as the “Father of the Qassam” rocket, a makeshift missile frequently fired into Israeli towns.
Nizar Rayyan
A cleric widely regarded as one of Hamas’s most hardline political leaders, had called for renewed suicide bombings inside Israel. Two of his four wives and seven of his children were also killed in the bombing in Jabalya refugee camp on Jan 1, 2009. Days later, an Israeli airstrike killed Hamas’s Interior Minister Saeed Seyyam, in the Gaza Strip on Jan 15. Seyyam was in charge of 13,000 Hamas police and security men.
Saleh Al-Arouri
An Israeli drone strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs of Dahiyeh killed Deputy Hamas chief Saleh al-Arouri on Jan 2, 2024. Arouri was also the founder of Hamas military wing, the Qassam Brigades.
Ismail Haniyeh
Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the early hours of Wednesday morning in Iran, the Palestinian group said.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed the death of Haniyeh, 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 north Tehran”. Iran’s NourNews said Haniyeh’s residence was hit by an airborne projectile.
Haniyeh was killed by a missile that hit him “directly” in a state guesthouse where he was staying, senior Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya told a news conference in Tehran, quoting witnesses who were with Haniyeh.
Mohammed Deif
Israel’s military said Deif was killed after fighter jets struck in the area of Khan Younis on July 13th after an intelligence assessment. The elusive Deif had survived seven Israel assassination attempts.
Hamas did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Israeli announcement, which came as crowds gathered in Tehran for the funeral procession of Hamas’s leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Deif is believed to have been one of the masterminds of Hamas’ Oct 7 attack on southern Israel, which triggered the Gaza conflict, now in its 300th day.