Haniyeh was the pragmatic leader of Hamas

Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader who was assassinated in what the group said was a “Zionist raid” in Iran, was the tough-talking face of the Palestinian group’s international diplomacy as war raged back in Gaza, where three of his sons were killed in an Israeli air strike. But despite the rhetoric, he was seen by many diplomats as a moderate compared to the more hardline members of the group in Gaza. Appointed to the Hamas top job in 2017, Haniyeh moved between Turkiye and Qatar’s capital Doha, enabling him to act as a negotiator in ceasefire talks. Three of Haniyeh’s sons – Hazem, Amir and Mohammad – were killed on 10 April when an Israeli air strike struck the car […]