Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip are ongoing, focusing significantly on assassinating Hamas leaders and resistance factions. Israel has carried out dozens of assassination operations targeting members of Palestinian factions since the emergence of Palestinian resistance. These operations were temporarily halted during peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. Israel has launched extensive assassination operations against Hamas leaders and members since the early 1990s, without distinguishing between the political and military branches of the movement.
Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas's political bureau, is the most recently assassinated leader in Tehran. Key figures from the movement who were assassinated prior to him include, in succession:
**Ahmed Bahar**: A Palestinian politician born in Gaza in 1949, he is a member of Hamas's political bureau, the first deputy chairman of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and acted as council president after the Israeli army detained then-president Aziz Dweik. He is also the head of Hamas's Shura Council, married with thirteen children, holds a license in the Quran, and earned a PhD in Arabic language from Palestine. He was administratively detained by the Israeli army without charge for two years in 1989 and was assassinated by Israel in an airstrike on his home.
**Imad Aqil**: Born in the Jabalia refugee camp on June 19, 1971, Aqil was first imprisoned at seventeen. He was arrested in 1988 for an English youth membership in Hamas and began armed resistance. He executed numerous military operations and became Israel's most wanted man. On November 24, 1993, he was killed along with one of his aides after being besieged by Israeli troops in Gaza.
**Yahya Ayyash**: Notably one of the most important military leaders of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Ayyash was known for a series of bombings and suicide operations against Israelis. Born in the northern West Bank in 1966, he held a degree in electrical engineering and was known for making explosives from locally available materials. He was assassinated in early 1996 through a booby-trapped phone delivered by Israeli intelligence.
**Jamal Salim and Jamal Mansour**: On January 31, 2001, Israeli airstrikes killed these two Hamas leaders in Nablus. Mansour was one of the founders of Hamas in the West Bank and was arrested multiple times during the First Intifada, while Salim was an educator who joined Hamas shortly after its founding in 1987.
**Mahmoud Abu Hanoud**: Born in 1967, he led the al-Qassam Brigades in the West Bank and was killed by a missile strike while driving on November 23, 2001 after a history of involvement in armed attacks.
**Salah Shehada**: Founder of the military wing of Hamas and its al-Qassam Brigades, born in 1952, Shehada led an organized military effort against Israel. He was killed on July 22, 2002, when an Israeli warplane dropped a bomb on his house, killing him and several others.
**Ismail Abu Shanab**: A prominent Hamas leader who spent over ten years in Israeli prisons, he was assassinated on August 21, 2003, via an Israeli helicopter strike.
**Ahmad Yassin**: The founder of Hamas, Yassin was killed on March 22, 2004, by an Israeli airstrike after a long history of detention and Tension with Israeli authorities.
**Abdul Aziz al-Rantisi**: A doctor and key Hamas leader, he took over leadership of the movement after Yassin's assassination but was killed on April 17, 2004, shortly thereafter by an Israeli missile.
**Adnan al-Ghul**: From the first generation of Qassam Brigades leaders, he was known for making explosives locally. He was assassinated in 2004 after being targeted by multiple assassination attempts.
**Said Siem**: Notably a prominent figure in Hamas who became the Minister of Interior after their 2006 electoral victory, he was killed on January 15, 2009, during the Gaza war.
**Ahmad Jibril**: Initially a member of Fatah, Jibril became actively involved with Hamas after incarceration, later taking leadership roles within the armed wing and was targeted multiple times before being killed on November 14, 2012.
This article summarizes the significant leaders of Hamas who were assassinated by Israel, reflecting on the ongoing conflict and the effects on Palestinian leadership.
