Hamas: What has happened to its most prominent leaders?

Since Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, many of the group's senior leaders have been killed, dealing a heavy blow to Hamas. Here are the fates of some of Hamas's most important figures.

Yahya Sinwar was the mastermind behind the October 7th attacks, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,200 people and the abduction of 251 others who were taken back to Gaza as hostages. He has also been one of Israel's top targets since that day. Sinwar was previously the leader of Hamas in Gaza, but became the overall head of Hamas after Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran in July of this year. Born in the Gaza Strip in 1962, Sinwar joined the organization early on. He founded Hamas's security apparatus, "Majd," responsible for internal security matters, investigating suspected Israeli agents, and tracking officials from Israeli intelligence and security services.

Israel arrested Sinwar three times. After his third arrest in 1988, he was sentenced to four life terms. However, he was among the 1,027 Palestinian and Israeli Arab prisoners released by Israel in exchange for an Israeli soldier who had been held captive by Hamas for more than five years. Sinwar regained his prominent leadership position within Hamas and was appointed head of the group's political bureau in the Gaza Strip in 2017. In 2015, the United States placed Sinwar on its "International Terrorist" blacklist. It was reported that Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces in Rafah on October 16, 2024.

Ismail Haniyeh was the overall leader of Hamas until the group confirmed his death in Iran on July 31, 2024. A key member of the group in the late 1980s, Haniyeh was imprisoned for three years in 1989 for his involvement in the first Palestinian uprising during an Israeli crackdown. He was subsequently exiled in 1992 to a no-man's-land between Israel and Lebanon, along with some other Hamas leaders. After a year in exile, he returned to Gaza. In 1997, he was appointed director of the office of Hamas's spiritual leader, solidifying his position. Haniyeh was appointed Palestinian Prime Minister by President Mahmoud Abbas after Hamas won the most seats in national elections in 2006, but he was dismissed a year later after the group drove Abbas's Fatah party out of the Gaza Strip in a week of deadly violence.

Haniyeh refused to accept his dismissal, calling it "unconstitutional," and emphasized that his government "would not give up its national responsibilities towards the Palestinian people," and continued to govern in Gaza. He was elected head of Hamas's political bureau in 2017. In 2018, the U.S. State Department designated Haniyeh as a terrorist. He has resided in Qatar for the past few years. Mohammed Deif is the head of Hamas's military wing, the Qassam Brigades, and is believed to be a key planner of the October 7th attacks. He is a mysterious figure, known by Palestinians as the "mastermind" and by Israelis as the "cat with nine lives."

Israeli authorities imprisoned him in 1989, after which he founded the Qassam Brigades with the goal of capturing Israeli soldiers. After his release, he helped build tunnels that allowed Hamas fighters to enter Israel from Gaza. Deif is one of Israel's most wanted men, accused of planning and overseeing the 1996 bus bombings that killed dozens of Israelis and involvement in the capture and killing of three Israeli soldiers in the mid-1990s. Israel imprisoned him in 2000, but he escaped at the start of the Second Palestinian Intifada. Deif survived an assassination attempt in 2002, but lost an eye. Israel has stated that he also lost a foot and a hand and has difficulty speaking.

Israeli security forces failed again to assassinate Deif in a 2014 attack on the Gaza Strip, but killed his wife and two children. Israel said that it finally killed Deif in July 2024 in an airstrike on a compound in Khan Yunis. Marwan Issa was the deputy commander of the Qassam Brigades and is also believed to be a key planner of the October 7th attacks. He had been on Israel's wanted list for years and was injured in 2006 when Israel attempted to assassinate him. The Israeli army detained Issa for five years for his activities in Hamas during the First Intifada (1987-93). The Palestinian Authority arrested him in 1997, but he was released in 2000 after the start of the Second Intifada.

Israeli warplanes destroyed Issa's homes twice during incursions into Gaza in 2014 and 2021, killing his brother. According to Israeli media, Issa was nicknamed "the Shadow Man" for his ability to evade searches until his appearance in a group photo at a prisoner exchange reception in 2011, when his appearance became known. Israel stated that it killed Issa in March 2024 during an airstrike on a tunnel under a refugee camp in central Gaza. Khaled Meshaal, born in the West Bank in 1956, is considered one of the founders of Hamas. The Israeli Mossad spy agency attempted to assassinate Meshaal in 1997, while he was residing in Jordan, under the direct orders of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mossad agents entered Jordan with forged Canadian passports, and Meshaal was injected with a toxic substance while walking on the street. Jordanian authorities discovered the assassination attempt and arrested two Mossad members. The late King Hussein of Jordan demanded that the Israeli Prime Minister provide an antidote for the substance injected into Meshaal. Facing pressure from then-US President Bill Clinton, Netanyahu provided the antidote after initially refusing the request. Meshaal resided in Qatar and first visited the Gaza Strip in 2012. He was received by Palestinian officials and large crowds of Palestinians came out to welcome him. Hamas elected Ismail Haniyeh to replace Meshaal as head of its political bureau in 2017, and Meshaal became head of the group's overseas political bureau.

Mahmoud Zahar was born in Gaza in 1945, to a Palestinian father and an Egyptian mother. He is considered one of Hamas's most prominent leaders and a member of the group's political leadership. He attended school in Gaza, university in Cairo, and then worked as a doctor in Gaza and Khan Yunis until Israeli authorities fired him for his political views. Mahmoud Zahar was imprisoned in an Israeli jail in 1988, a few months after Hamas was founded. He was among those exiled by Israel to southern Lebanon in 1992, where he spent a year. As the Hamas movement won the Palestinian elections in 2006, Zahar joined the new government's foreign ministry under Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, before that government was eventually dissolved.

Israel attempted to assassinate Zahar in 2003 when an aircraft dropped a bomb on his house in Gaza City. The attack left him slightly injured but killed his eldest son, Khaled. His second son, Hossam, a member of the Qassam Brigades, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza in 2008.