Ismail Haniyeh, the face of Hamas diplomacy who was seen as a moderate within the Palestinian movement, was at the heart of efforts to end hostilities in the Gaza Strip. But in Israel's eyes, the head of Hamas' political bureau was no more than a "dead man walking," like Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, the architects of the bloody attack of October 7, 2023, which led Israel to launch a devastating war in the Palestinian enclave.
The killing of Haniyeh, in a strike attributed to Israel on his Tehran residence on the night of Tuesday, July 31, came as a painful blow for Hamas and a slap in the face for Iran. While the Palestinian movement insisted that this "serious escalation" will not undermine its objectives, his death could call into question the already tenuous chances of success of negotiations aimed at sealing a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Haniyeh was appointed head of the Hamas political bureau in the spring of 2017, succeeding Khaled Mashaal. Two years later, he left the Gaza Strip to join other movement figures in voluntary exile in Qatar. From Doha, he shuttled between Turkey, Iran and Egypt, defending Hamas' interests with regional leaders.
On Tuesday, the 62-year-old was in the Iranian capital to attend the investiture ceremony for the new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, alongside other representatives of the "axis of resistance" to Israel, such as the deputy secretary general of Lebanon-based Hezbollah, Naim Kassem, the head of Islamic Jihad, Ziad al-Nakhalah, and the spokesman for Yemen's Houthi rebels, Mohammed Abdulsalam.
Considered a pragmatist by his interlocutors in the Middle East, Haniyeh has also played a central role in building Hamas's military capabilities, not least thanks to the relations he has maintained with Iran. In 2018, the US State Department placed Haniyeh on its terrorist blacklist, finding that he had been a "proponent of armed struggle, including against civilians," and that Hamas activities had been responsible for the loss of "approximately seventeen American lives killed in terrorist attacks". He was also among the Palestinian and Israeli officials against whom the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, has requested the issue of an arrest warrant.
Haniyeh was certainly kept informed by Sinwar and Deif of the planned attack on October 7. In images broadcast by Hamas media shortly after the attack on Israel was launched, Haniyeh can be seen chatting jubilantly with other Hamas leaders in his office in Doha, in front of an Arab TV report showing Hamas commandos seizing Israeli army jeeps.
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