A Look at the Hamas Terrorist Group’s Leaders: Ismail Haniyeh, Mohammed Deif, and Yahya Sinwar

Since 2007, the Gaza Strip has been governed by the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas, which Israel has pledged to destroy after it launched a surprise onslaught on Israel on Saturday that left more than 1,200 people dead.

The following information relates to the senior officials of the extremist group that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has compared to the Islamic State organization.

THE POLITICIAN, ISMAIL HANIYEH

Haniyeh, 60, who succeeded Khaled Meshaal as head of the Hamas political bureau in 2017, was already well-known when he took office as Palestinian prime minister in 2006 after Hamas unexpectedly won the parliamentary election that year.

However, relations with Mahmud Abbas’ Fatah organization deteriorated quickly, and in 2007, Hamas forcefully ousted Abbas’ supporters to seize complete control of the Gaza Strip.

Haniyeh, a pragmatist, lives in voluntary exile and alternates between Qatar and Turkey.

He has long advocated for rapprochement between the political attitude inside Hamas, which the European Union and the US have designated as a terrorist organization, and the violent struggle against Israel.

Haniyeh is said to have cordial relationships with the leaders of all the Palestinian groups, including those who are at odds with one another.

The Hamas commander, who is renowned for his composure, was a student member of the Muslim Brotherhood at the Islamic University of Gaza in his teens.

He joined Hamas in 1987, the year the militant organization was established and the first Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation began. This struggle lasted until 1993.

Haniyeh was repeatedly imprisoned by Israel at that time, after which he was sent to south Lebanon for a period of six months.

Haniyeh is shown in video shown by media affiliated with Hamas on Saturday watching television as the Hamas assault on Israel unfolds before joining other Hamas officials in a prayer to “thank Allah for this victory.”

The “Chief of Staff,” Mohammed Deif’

Israel’s top target for assassination attempts is the elusive Deif, who is in charge of Hamas’s military branch, the Ezzdine al-Qassam Brigades. Deif has been on the US list of “international terrorists” since 2015, and Israel has attempted to kill him at least six times.

Deif, who is regarded by Hamas as the organization’s “chief of staff,” is the one who gave an audio message announcing the launch of the Hamas onslaught on Israel known as the “Al-Aqsa Flood.”

5,000 rockets and shells were fired into the enemy’s positions and defenses within the first 20 minutes of the onslaught, Deif is heard stating in the tape.

In order to prevent his identification, Hamas, who issued the audio message, also shared a photo of Deif hiding in the shade.

There are just a few, subpar pictures of Deif that are known to exist, with the most current one being from around 20 years ago.

He is said to be a master of disguise who can blend in with the crowd, although it is unclear where he is hidden.

Mohammed Diab al-Masri, often known as Deif, was born in Gaza’s Khan Yunis refugee camp in 1965.

Since the 1980s, he has been associated with Hamas and has participated in several of its actions, including as the kidnapping of troops and suicide bombings.

In 2002, he was chosen to lead Hamas’ military branch after his predecessor, Salah Shehade, was killed in a raid.

Deif had either fled from or been released from a jail administered by Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority two years before, during the beginning of the second intifada.

Shortly after he was designated the director of the military wing of Hamas, Israel launched its fifth attempt to kill him in Gaza. He was seriously injured, and there are unsubstantiated accusations that the strike left him paralyzed.

In 2014, Israel attempted to murder Deif by attacking Gaza with an airstrike that resulted in the deaths of his wife and one of the couple’s children.

The “cat with nine lives” is how Deif is known to his foes, but to Palestinians, he is a living legend.

THE ‘STRONGMAN’ OF GAZA IS YAHYA SINWAR

Sinwar, 61, a veteran military leader for Hamas, was chosen to lead the terrorist organization in Gaza in 2017.

He advanced through the ranks of Hamas as a fervent supporter of violent resistance against Israel and is regarded as the organization’s “defence minister” by the organisation.

The modestly built Sinwar, who speaks Hebrew and has spent 23 years in Israeli prisons, exudes an air of mystery. He was freed in 2011 as part of a prisoner swap involving French-Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was being held hostage by Hamas.

He is on the US list of wanted “international terrorists” with Deif.

According to Israeli army spokesperson Richard Hecht, the attack against Gaza is aimed at top Hamas figures like Sinwar.