Who was Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas political leader assassinated in Tehran?

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh — a top member of the Palestinian group's civilian political leadership — was killed by an airstrike on his residence in Tehran, where he had been visiting for the inauguration of Iran's new president Masoud Pezeshkian.

Haniyeh's assassination comes amid Israel's latest war on Gaza and follows the killing of three of his sons and four grandchildren in the besieged territory by Israel in April.

"All our people and all the families of Gaza residents have paid a heavy price with the blood of their children, and I am one of them," he said at the time, adding that at least 60 members of his own family were killed by Israel.

A refugee

Haniyeh was born in 1963 at Gaza's Shati refugee camp to parents forced to flee from the city of Ashkelon during the 1948 Nakba ethnic cleansing that paved the way for the Israeli state's creation.

A graduate of Arabic literature, Haniyeh began his career as a teacher at Gaza's Islamic University. After joining Hamas in the late 1980s, Haniyeh quickly became a close aide of the group's founder Sheikh Ahmad Yassin.

Israel would first arrest Haniyeh in 1987 after the outbreak of the First Intifada, taking him into custody for 18 days.

A second arrest took place in 1988 when Haniyeh was held for six months under Israel's controversial administrative detention system.

In 1989, Israel once again arrested Haniyeh for membership in Hamas, this time jailing him for three years.

He was then deported to then Israeli-occupied southern Lebanon in 1992 along with some 400 other Hamas members, where he spent a year before returning to Gaza.

It is believed that during this time the fledgling Palestinian group gained military training and technical know-how from the more experienced Hezbollah.

Alongside his stints in prison, Haniyeh was also injured by an Israeli missile that struck Hamas' Gaza City office in 2003. Yassin escaped the attack, however, he was killed by a missile strike a year later.

A stalwart of Hamas' politburo, Haniyeh was an early advocate of the group entering politics and in 1994 urged the group to form a political party.

The group's entrance to the political fray saw Haniyeh elected to the Palestinian legislative council in 2006, and later as the prime minister of the eleventh Palestinian government in 2007.

Haniyeh remained at the head of the Gaza administration until 2013 when reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah led to an agreement to form a national consensus government.

In 2017, Haniyeh took leadership of the Hamas politburo — a role which saw him move between Turkey and Qatar to avoid travel restrictions imposed by Israel on Gaza.

'A great leader'

As Hamas' face of international diplomacy, Haniyeh forged a reputation for an open attitude towards all Palestinian factions, including his rivals. 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, a fierce opponent of Haniyeh and Hamas, described him on Wednesday as a "great leader".

In May, Haniyeh was one of three Hamas leaders named in an application for arrest warrants by International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Karim Khan, alongside Israeli leaders Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant.

However, it is unclear how much Haniyeh knew about the 7 October assault beforehand, as the planning and execution were closely guarded by the Hamas military council in Gaza.

It has been speculated that Haniyeh and other top Hamas members outside Gaza were taken by surprise when the assault on Israel was launched.

Haniyeh's killing throws further uncertainty on the future of ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel, with Haniyeh being seen as more pragmatic and open than Yahya Sinwar, Hamas' leader in Gaza who forms a key link between the group's armed and political wings.

Haniyeh, unlike Sinwar, had served solely in the group's civilian political wing.

He also had come to advocate for a two-state solution — a position he reiterated just one month after the 7 October attack.

“We are ready for political negotiations for a two-state solution with Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine,” he said in November, emphasising that a ceasefire must be implemented and aid be allowed into Gaza.

Following Haniyeh's assassination, Hamas vowed to continue its resistance against Israeli forces

"This assassination by the Israeli occupation of Brother Haniyeh is a grave escalation that aims to break the will of Hamas,"  Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.

"We are confident of victory."