Remembering Ismail Haniyeh: Life And Death Of Hamas Leaders Who Opposing Israel's Power

The head of the Hamas Bureau Politics, Ismail Haniyeh. (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Ismail Haniyeh's life is full of struggle. His life in the refugee camp made him a formidable Palestinian fighter. He felt for himself how his family, friends and nation were disturbed and terrorized solely by Israel. Their land was annexed. The lives of Palestinians were killed.

Haniyeh also thought there was no right word but to fight back. He joined the Palestinian nationalist movement against Israel, Hamas. He later became a Hamas figure who became the hunt for the Israeli colonialists.

Ismail Haniyeh felt for himself why he lived in refugee camps because of modern Israeli colonialism. The man who was born in the Al-Shati refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on January 29, 1962 witnessed the confusion of Palestinians losing land, houses, and families.

The story is not only obtained from people in the camp. The sad story he got from his own family. In the past, when his family lived comfortably in Ashkelon, Palestine (the region that is now part of Israel). However, Israel came and forced his family to flee in 1948.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh rides in a fancy Mercedes after a posh dinner in Doha, on his way his his 5 star hotel. Why doesn't he let Gazans live this life as well? Why does he constantly starts wars without giving a damn about the people in Gaza?B/c he serves Iran's terrorism pic.twitter.com/eNVq9HiqOr

— Ofir Gendelman (@ofirgendelman) May 16, 2021

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh rides in a fancy Mercedes after a post dinner in Doha, on his way his 5 star hotel. Why doesn't he let Gazans live this life as well? Why does he constantly start wars without giving a damn about the people in Gaza?B/c he serves Iran's terrorist pic.twitter.com/eVq9HiqOr

The years in which Israel began to attack hundreds of villages in Palestine. An attack that left tens of thousands of Palestinians dead. That story made him grow up to be a defender of his homeland, Palestine.

The study room in the refugee camp was not wasted. Every day he studied in schools managed by the UN agency for Palestine, UNRWA. He also graduated and immediately continued his education in Arabic Literature at Gaza University.

This learning made Haniyeh sensitive to the struggle of his compatriots against Israel's tyranny. He also joined the political group based on Ikhwanul Muslimin on his campus. He participated in many protests against Israel's annexation.

He joined Hamas in 1987. He was educated directly by Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin. The momentum was precisely when the Palestinian people fought against the Israeli occupation of the First Intifada incident.

Haniyeh's activities made Israel furious. He became hunted. He was several times in and out of Israeli prisons in the 1980s and 1990s. He was also exiled with other Hamas leaders in 1992. However, he was able to return to Gaza and join his resistance movement. Although he has often been the target of attempted murder operations.

Haniyeh became the student founder of Hamas Sheikh Ahmad Yassin and in 2003 he became his confidant. One of the evidence can be seen from a photo depicting Haniyeh winning the phone of Hamas founders in Gaza. Even though Yassin was killed by Israel in 2004.

"Haniyeh was one of the early supporters of the Hamas political agenda and in 2006, he became Palestinian Prime Minister (PM) after Hamas won the most seats in the Palestinian parliamentary election. He was dismissed by Abbas in 2007 after Israel withdrew from Gaza and Hamas took over," said Ruth Michaelson and Jonathan Yerushalmy in his writings on The Guardian website entitled Explated: Who is Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas political chief killed in Iran (2024).

His position as Palestinian Prime Minister may not take long. However, his footprint as part of Hamas continues. He is seen as a brave figure. He was also able to serve as Head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip from 2014.

Haniyeh was later appointed as the Political Chair of the Hamas Bureau to replace Khaled Mashal in 2017. The leadership forced him to withdraw from Gaza. This condition made him cross the bill to Arab countries supporting Palestine.

The position brought him to be the face of Palestine in the world of foreign politics. Haniyeh also moved so that Israel could not track him. Sometimes he is in Turkey, Iran, and Qatar. Diplomacy is also famous throughout the Middle East. He is like a tonguepiece between the world and hardline Hamas figures in Gaza.

Diplomacy actually has to be paid expensive Haniyeh. This is because many families are victims of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Later he became one of the hunts targeted by Israel. He is considered to interfere with the existence of Israeli power in Palestine.

Malang cannot be rejected. The Hamas leader was pronounced murdered at a residence in Tehran, Iran on July 31, 2024. Hamas also responded by revealing Israel was behind Haniyeh's death. The day before, Haniyeh met with Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

In June 2024, Hamas said Haniyeh's sister and her family were killed in an Israeli military attack on the Haniyeh family home in Gaza, an unconfirmed statement by the military. In April, three of Haniyeh's 13 sons were killed by Israeli forces in another military operation in Gaza.

He was challenging Israel, which is a common thing in Haniyeh's life. Haniyeh revealed: we will not give up, no matter how much the sacrifice. Even though the fact that he has lost dozens of family members in the war, said Zadis Livni in a post on The New York Times page entitled What We Know About Ismail Haniyeh (2024).