Date | 17 April 2004 |
---|---|
Location | Gaza City, Gaza Strip |
Cause | Attacks against Israel |
Target | Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi |
Perpetrator | Israel Defense Forces |
Deaths | 3 [1] |
On the evening of 17 April 2004, the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, aged 56, was assassinated by missiles fired by Israeli warplanes on the car he was traveling in. [2] In addition two of his bodyguards were killed. [1] The operation was considered part of a campaign to eliminate the leaders of the groups fighting in the uprising. [3] The assassination led to widespread condemnation around the world. [4] Hamas spokesman Ismail Haniyeh vowed to avenge the death, saying the sacrifice would not be in vain. [5]
Al-Rantisi was among the founders of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in December 1987. [6] He was arrested on March 4, 1988, and remained in prison until September 4, 1990. He was deported on December 17, 1992, along with 425 other Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists and cadres, to southern Lebanon. Then he was allowed to return and was imprisoned until 1997. He was also arrested by Palestinian Authority security forces and detained for 15 months. [6]
Al-Rantisi had narrowly escaped an assassination attack on June 10, 2003, as an Apache aircraft identified his location and targeted his vehicle with a missile. The operation resulted in the deaths of three Palestinians, including a woman and a girl, and left Al-Rantisi injured with shrapnel in his lower left extremity. Al-Rantisi, still under the influence of anesthesia following the surgical procedure, committed to "persisting with the resistance efforts." [7]
The attack took place less than a month after the assassination of leader Ahmed Yassin. [2] Rantisi was one of the founders of the movement. On 10 June 2003, Al-Rantisi had survived an assassination attempt by an Apache helicopter, in which he and his son were wounded. [8] [9] He was still alive when he was taken to hospital where he died a few minutes later. [10] In response, the militant movement promised retribution. [3]
His funeral took place the next day, and large, angry crowds participated in his funeral. [20] Fighters from Palestinian national and Islamic organizations also participated in the cortège. [21] At the same time, Hamas named a new leader, whom it did not disclose due to security reasons. [20]
On 20 April 2004, Israeli occupation forces shot dead four Palestinians. [22] The same day, Sharon warned of further attacks on Hamas leaders. He said that the two leaders would not be the last to be killed. [23]
His wife Jamila al-Shanti was also killed after the start of the 2023–2024 Gaza War. [24]
Khaled Hroub maintains that the murders of Ranitsi and Yassin resulted in a paradox for the movement, with a surge in Hamas's popularity juxtaposed with a significant weakening of the organization. [25]
The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas, is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islamist political organisation with a military wing called the Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades. It has governed the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip since 2007.
Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Hassan Yassin was a Palestinian politician and imam who founded Hamas in 1987. He also served as the first chairman of the Hamas Shura Council and de-facto leader of Hamas since its inception from December 1987 until his assassination in March 2004.
Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi was a Palestinian political leader and co-founder of Hamas, along with Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 1987. He also served as the chairman of the Hamas Shura Council from March 2004 until his assassination in April 2004 and the first deputy chairman of the Hamas Shura Council from December 1987 until March 2004.
The Popular Resistance Committees is a coalition of a number of armed Palestinian groups opposed to what they regard as the conciliatory approach of the Palestinian Authority and Fatah towards Israel.
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Said Seyam, first name also spelled Saeed and Sayed and last name also spelled Siam, was the interior minister of the Palestinian government of March 2006. He joined Hamas and became one of its top commanders. During the 2008–2009 Gaza War, Seyam was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Jabalia. Seyam was the most senior Hamas member killed in the war, and the most senior Hamas figure killed by Israel since the death of Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi in April 2004.
Assassination, the murder of an opponent or well-known public figure, is one of the oldest tools of power struggles, as well as the expression of certain psychopathic disorders. It dates back to the earliest governments and tribal structures of the world.
Targeted killing, or assassination is a tactic that the government of Israel has used during the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, the Iran–Israel proxy conflict, and other conflicts.
The history of Hamas is an account of the Palestinian nationalist and Islamist – described by some as fundamentalist – socio-political organization with an associated paramilitary force, the Ezzedeen al-Qassam Brigades. Hamas (حماس) Ḥamās is an acronym of حركة المقاومة الاسلامية Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamat al-Islāmiyyah, meaning "Islamic Resistance Movement".
Ahmed al-Jabari, also known as Abu Mohammad, was a senior leader and second-in-command of the military wing of Hamas, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. He was widely credited as the leading figure in the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip, and commanded the 2006 Hamas cross-border raid which resulted in the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Under his command, along with chief logistics officer Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, Hamas developed its own military weapons capability significantly by acquiring longer-range guided missiles and rockets.
Events in the year 2004 in Israel.
Events in the year 2002 in Israel.
Events in the year 2004 in the Palestinian territories.
The Beersheba bus bombings were two Palestinian suicide attacks carried out nearly simultaneously aboard commuter buses in Beersheba, Israel, on August 31, 2004. 16 people were killed and more than 100 were injured. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Ismail Abu Shanab was a Palestinian engineer and one of the founders of Hamas. He was one of its three most senior leaders in Gaza. More specifically, he was the second highest leader of Hamas only after Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. He was also the political leader of Hamas, who was strongly against suicide bombings and in favor of a long-term truce.
Ismail Haniyeh was a Palestinian politician who served as chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau from May 2017 until his assassination in July 2024. He also served as prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority from March 2006 until June 2014 and Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip from June 2007 until February 2017, where he was succeeded by Yahya Sinwar.
On 22 March 2004, the Palestinian leader and one of the founders of Hamas, Ahmed Yassin, 67, was assassinated in Gaza City. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin - who used a wheelchair due to being quadriplegic since his adolescence - was returning from performing the Fajr prayer, and his companions were also killed immediately. His assassination caused a state of anger and Palestinian factions vowed revenge, with Hamas saying that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "opened the gates of hell." Shortly after the attack, Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi took over the leadership of the movement in the Gaza Strip.
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