After Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination, which Hamas leaders remain?

News of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh being assassinated in Iran sent shockwaves around the world.

Haniyeh and his bodyguard were killed by an airstrike in the Iranian capital after attending the swearing-in ceremony of new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Hamas has pointed the finger at Israel, saying Haniyeh was killed in a ‘Zionist airstrike at his residence in Iran.’

Israel had vowed to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders in retaliation for the October 7 attack.

The attack also came as Israel said it killed top Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur – who was allegedly behind a weekend rocket attack that killed 12 young people in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

But whom are the other leaders of Hamas? Has the terror group been left weakened?

Yahya Sinwar

Sinwar, 62, is the charismatic leader of the Hamas movement within Gaza.

Thought to be the architect of the October 7 attack, Sinwar has been dubbed the ‘butcher of Khan Younis’ by the Israeli Defence Forces.

As per Britannica, Sinwar was born on October 29, 1962 in the Khan Younis refugee camp.

His parents were displaced from Ashkelon during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

The Khan Younis refugee camp, home to many such families, was a cramped place where even basic necessities were unavailable.

Sinwar in the 1980s studied at the Islamic University of Gaza.

As per BBC, Sinwar founded the Majd – the security service of Hamas.

In 1988, Sinwar was given four life sentences in prison after being convicted for the murder of Palestinians collaborating with Israel.

Sinwar remained busy in prison – influencing and sometimes even coercing fellow prisoners as well as reading Israeli newspaper and becoming fluent in Hebrew.

Sinwar in 2011 was released from prison as part of an exchange between Israel and Hamas.

The deal saw over 1,000 Palestinian and Israeli-Arab prisoners being exchanged for a single Israeli soldier who had been held in captivity for five years.

Upon being released, Sinwar immediately joined the top ranks of Hamas.

The US in 2015 designated Sinwar an ‘international terrorist.’

In October, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Sinwar a ‘dead man walking.’

No one knows where Sinwar is, but he is thought to be hiding deep in the tunnels of Gaza.

Mohammed Deif

Mohammed Deif is the chief of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades – the military wing of Hamas.

Known as the ‘walking ghost,’ Deif has survived multiple assassination attempts from Israel including earlier in July.

He rarely speaks and never appears in public.

Israelis refer to him as The Cat with Nine Lives, as per BBC.

As per Al Jazeera, Deif means “visitor” or “guest” in Arabic.

Some say this is because he is always trying to stay ahead of the Israeli forces.

Hamas on the morning of October 7 released a rare voice recording of Deif announcing the operation.

“Today the rage of Al Aqsa, the rage of our people and nation is exploding. Our mujahedeen (fighters), today is your day to make this criminal understand that his time has ended,” Deif said in the recording.

There are only three images of Deif: one in his 20s, another of him masked, and an image of his shadow, which was used when the audio tape was broadcast.

Speaking in a calm voice, Deif said in his recording that Hamas had repeatedly warned Israel to stop its crimes against Palestinians, to release prisoners, whom he said were abused and tortured, and to halt its expropriation of Palestinian land.

“Every day the occupation storm our villages, towns and cities in the West Bank and raid houses, kill, injure, destroy and detain. At the same time, it confiscates thousands of acres of our land, uproots our people from their houses to build settlements while its criminal siege continues on Gaza.”

A source close to Hamas said the decision to prepare the attack, known as the Al Aqsa Flood to Hamas, was taken jointly by Deif and Sinwar, but it was clear who was the architect.

“There are two brains, but there is one mastermind,” the source added.

Like Yahya Sinwar, Deif was born in the Khan Younis refugee camp.

Born Mohammad Masri in 1965, he took the name Mohammed Deif after joining Hamas during the first Intifada, or Palestinian uprising, which began in 1987.

Deif was arrested by Israel in 1989 and spent about 16 months in detention, a Hamas source said.

He earned a degree in science from the Islamic University in Gaza, where he studied physics, chemistry and biology.

He displayed an affinity for the arts, heading the university’s entertainment committee and performing on stage in comedies.

Rising in Hamas ranks, Deif developed the group’s network of tunnels and its bomb-making expertise. He has topped Israel’s most wanted list for decades, held personally responsible for the deaths of dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings.

As per BBC, these include bus bombings tin 1996 and the capture and murder of three Israeli soldiers in the mid-1990s.

Deif was imprisoned by Israel in 2000, but he escaped at the beginning of the second Palestinian Intifada.

For Deif, staying in the shadow has been a matter of life or death. Hamas sources said he lost an eye and sustained serious injuries in one leg in one of Israel’s assassination attempts.

As per BBC, he is also thought to have trouble speaking.

His wife, 7-month-old son, and 3-year-old daughter were killed by an Israeli air strike in 2014.

His survival while running Hamas’s armed wing has earned him the status of a Palestinian folk hero. In videos he is masked, or just a shadow of him is seen. He doesn’t use modern digital technology such as smart phones, the source close to Hamas said.

“He is elusive. He is the man in the shadows.”

Khaled Mashal

As per BBC, Mashal is thought to be one of the founders of Hamas.

As per Britannica, Mashal was born in the West Bank’s Silwad in 1956.

He and his family lived in the West Bank until 1967 – until it was captured by Israel.

His family then moved to Kuwait – where his father had been working as an agricultural labourer and a preacher since the 1950s.

Deeply religious as a young man, Hamas joined the Muslim Brotherhood in Kuwait as a teenager.

In 1974, he enrolled at Kuwait University where he studied physics and took part in Palestinian activism.

Mashal remained in Kuwait after graduating where he organised and raised money to fund social services in Gaza and the West Bank.

In 1987, after the first Intafada, Hamas was founded by members of the Muslim Brotherhood and religious factions of the PLO.

In 1992, Hamas announced the formation of a political bureau of which Mashal, who had moved to Jordan after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, was a member.

In 1996, Mashal was elected as chief of Hamas’ political bureau.

In 1997, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved Mashal’s assassination in retribution for Hamas’ suicide bombings.

As per BBC, Mossad agents injected Mashal with a poison while he was walking on the streets of Amman.

The plan was foiled after the two Mossad agents were captured and King Hussein of Jordan intervened.

Hussein managed to get the antidote for Mashal after then US president Bill Clinton pressured Netanyahu into giving it up.

Mashal remained the head of Hamas till 2017 when he was succeeded by Haniyeh.

Mashal was one of Hamas’ key hostage negotiators.

Mashal caused controversy in India when he virtually addressed a ‘solidarity event’ organised by the Solidarity Youth Movement in October.

He currently lives in Qatar.

Mahmoud Zahar

Zahar is one of Hamas’ most-senior leaders.

Zahar was born in 1945 near Gaza City. His father was Palestinian father and his mother was Egyptian.

Zahar studied in school in Gaza and then attended university in Cairo.

He worked as a doctor in Gaza and Khan Younis until he was fired over his political views.

In 1988, after the founding of Hamas, Israel imprisoned Zahar.

Zahar was ultimately deported to Lebanon in 1992.

Zahar survived an assassination attempt on his life after returning to Gaza.

However, his oldest son was killed in the attack.

He lost another son, a member of Hamas’ military wing, in an Israeli air strike in 2008.

According to ECFR.eu, Zahar in 2006 was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC).

He was then appointed Palestine’s foreign minister.

He is thought to be among Hamas’ most hawkish and socially conservative leaders.

Has Hamas been left weakened?

Haniyeh’s death comes on the heels of Hamas having nearly half its forces wiped out since the beginning of the war.

The enclave’s ruling group has been reduced to between 9,000 and 12,000 fighters, according to three senior US officials familiar with battlefield developments, down from American estimates of 20,000-25,000 before the conflict.

By contrast, Israel says it has lost almost 300 troops in the Gaza campaign.

The group is now relying on hit-and-run insurgent tactics to frustrate Israel’s attempts to take control of Gaza, US officials have said.

They added that such tactics could sustain a Hamas insurgency for months to come, aided by weapons smuggled into Gaza via tunnels and others repurposed from unexploded ordnance or captured from Israeli forces.

This kind of protracted timeframe is echoed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s national security adviser who said last week the war could last until the end of 2024 at least.

In a parallel propaganda drive, some of the group’s fighters are videotaping their ambushes of Israeli troops, before editing and posting them on Telegram and other social media apps.

Peter Lerner, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), told Reuters they were still some way from destroying Hamas, which he also said had lost roughly half of its fighting force.

Lerner said the military was adapting to the group’s shift in tactics and acknowledged Israel couldn’t eliminate every Hamas fighter or destroy every Hamas tunnel.

“There is never a goal to kill each and every last terrorist on the ground. That’s not a realistic goal,” he added. “Destroying Hamas as a governing authority is an achievable and attainable military objective,” he added.

With inputs from agencies