Intense airstrikes could be seen in Gaza as Israel appeared to target Al Shifa hospital.
Haniyeh is the latest Hamas leader to have been assassinated since October 7The assassination of Hamas ' top political leader overnight as he lay sleeping at an Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps residence in Tehran has left the Palestinian terror group vowing to take revenge and could trigger yet more chaos in the Middle East.
But several other senior Hamas officials have been killed in recent months after Israel vowed to eliminate the group's entire senior leadership. But for years, the top political leader of Hamas had lived a life of luxury outside of Gaza, drawing the ire of many Palestinians who felt he had become 'out of touch' after rising to the top of Hamas' political structure in its early years in power.
'The fact that he lived in a five-star hotel in Doha made him very unpopular with some of the Hamas figures on the ground in Gaza,' Dr Andreas Krieg, associate professor of Security Studies at King's College London, told MailOnline. While Haniyeh was seen as Hamas' leading representative on the international stage, Sinwar maintains control over the group's day-to-day operations in Gaza, where he has resided ever since October 7.
A founding member of Hamas's student movement, Sinwar was active during the first intifada against Israel, which started in Gaza in 1987. He also murdered several Gazans he suspected of collaborating with Israeli forces. Known for his secrecy, Sinwar is an excellent security operator, according to Abu Abdallah, a Hamas member who spent years alongside him in Israeli jails.
In a show of defiance two years ago, Sinwar ended one of his few public speeches by inviting Israel to assassinate him, proclaiming: 'I will walk back home after this meeting.' He then did so, shaking hands and taking selfies with people in the streets.He is known as the 'Butcher of Khan Younis' for his brutal approach to Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel.
Deif was also believed to have been significantly physically compromised, having survived a slew of assassination attempts.The strike took place in an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone in southern Gaza, killing at least 90 Palestinians and wounding nearly 300 more, according to local health officials.
Palestinians evacuate a body from a site hit by an Israeli bombardment on Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on July 13, 2024. Israel said it targeted Hamas' military commander Mohammed Deif in a massive strike but could not confirm his death Benjamin Netanyahu had threatened to kill al-Arouri even before Hamas launched its bloody October 7 attack.
Al-Arouri was later involved in a deal that saw more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners freed in exchange for the corporal. Asked about assassination threats against him in an interview with Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen in August, Arouri said: 'It is not strange for us for the commanders and cadres of the movement to be martyred.In the same interview, he threatened that in case of a comprehensive war, 'Israel will suffer a defeat unprecedented in history'.
A month after his death, Israel's military revealed it had obtained handwritten letters from Issa that appeared to show how Iran was funding the Palestinian group - and that the former deputy leader of the al-Qassam brigades was heavily involved in organising the payments. One document, seemingly written by Issa in 2020 and addressed to Hamas leader Sinwar, showed a table of payments totalling $154 million from the Islamic Republic to Hamas coffers.
Israel did so, and also agreed to free Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, only to assassinate him anyway seven years later in Gaza. He also maintains relations with Palestine's leader in the West Bank, Mahmoud Abbas, who called the foreign minister on Saturday to offer his condolences for the killing of Haniyeh.
A prominent diplomat, al-Hayya headed a delegation that went to Syria in 2022 to rebuild Hamas' relations with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. Hamas Gaza Chief Yahya Al-Sinwar, Hamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh and senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya arrive at the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip September 19, 2017
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