Sabra neighborhood, Gaza City · 2000s
Killing of Ahmed Yassin
On 22 March 2004, Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin, 67, was killed in an Israeli military airstrike as he left dawn prayers in Gaza City, along with several companions and bystanders.
What happened
On the evening of 17 April 2004, Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, was killed at age 56 when Israeli warplanes fired missiles at the vehicle in which he was traveling. Two of his bodyguards were also killed in the strike. The operation was considered part of a broader campaign to eliminate leaders of groups involved in the uprising against Israel. The killing occurred less than a month after the assassination of Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin.
Al-Rantisi was one of the founders of Hamas, established in December 1987. He had a long history of arrest and detention: he was arrested on 4 March 1988 and held until 4 September 1990, then deported on 17 December 1992 to southern Lebanon along with 425 other Hamas and Islamic Jihad members. After being allowed to return, he was imprisoned again until 1997, and was separately detained by Palestinian Authority security forces for 15 months.
Al-Rantisi had previously survived an assassination attempt on 10 June 2003, when an Israeli Apache helicopter targeted his vehicle with a missile. That earlier strike killed three Palestinians, including a woman and a girl, and left Al-Rantisi wounded with shrapnel injuries; his son was also wounded in the attack. He reportedly vowed to continue "resistance efforts" while still recovering from surgery.
In the 17 April 2004 attack, Al-Rantisi was still alive when taken to hospital, where he died a short time later. Hamas spokesman Ismail Haniyeh vowed to avenge the death.
The assassination drew condemnation from multiple governments and officials, including the European Union, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Italy, the Palestinian Authority, Yemen, and the United Kingdom, many of whom characterized the targeted killing as unlawful or counterproductive to the peace process. Israel's UN representative defended the operation, framing Al-Rantisi as an architect of violence against Israeli civilians, and the Israeli Prime Minister praised those involved in the operation. The United States declined to condemn the killing, with a White House spokesman emphasizing Israel's right to defend itself while expressing concern for regional peace and stability.
Al-Rantisi's funeral took place the following day and drew large, angry crowds, including fighters from various Palestinian national and Islamic organizations. Hamas named a new leader without publicly disclosing the individual's identity for security reasons. Days later, on 20 April 2004, Israeli forces shot dead four Palestinians, and then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned of further actions against Hamas leadership.
Analysis attributed to Khaled Hroub describes a resulting paradox for Hamas: a surge in popularity for the movement alongside significant organizational weakening following the killings of both Rantisi and Yassin.
