Hamas: What has happened to its most prominent leaders?

Yahya Sinwar, a senior leader of Hamas, orchestrated the 7 October attacks, which resulted in approximately 1,200 deaths and saw 251 individuals taken as hostages back to Gaza. Since that day, Sinwar has been a key target for Israeli forces. Originally the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Sinwar assumed the overall leadership of the organization after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in July 2024.

Ismail Haniyeh

who led Hamas until he died in Tehran on 31 July 2024, was a significant figure within the movement since the late 1980s. He was imprisoned by Israel in 1989 during the crackdown on the first Palestinian uprising and later exiled to a border zone between Israel and Lebanon. Haniyeh returned to Gaza and, after serving as Palestinian Prime Minister in 2006, continued to lead Hamas in Gaza despite his dismissal. In 2017, he was elected as the head of Hamas’s political bureau. Haniyeh had lived in Qatar for several years before his death.

Sinwar, born in Gaza in 1962, became involved with Hamas early on and founded its security service, Majd, which focuses on internal security and counterintelligence efforts. Despite being sentenced to life imprisonment multiple times, Sinwar was freed in a prisoner exchange deal in 2011, quickly rising to prominence within Hamas. In 2015, the U.S. designated him a global terrorist. Israeli forces killed Sinwar in Rafah on 16 October 2024.

Another key figure, Mohammed Deif, headed Hamas’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, and was instrumental in planning the 7 October attack. Known for his survival against multiple assassination attempts, Deif was killed in July 2024 by Israeli forces. Marwan Issa, Deif’s deputy, also played a crucial role in planning the attack but was killed in March 2024. Both men were central to Hamas’s military strategy and tunnel construction efforts.

Khaled Meshaal, a founding member of Hamas, survived an assassination attempt by Israel in 1997 and continues to live in Qatar, while Mahmoud Zahar, another senior leader, has survived Israeli attempts on his life but lost two sons in Israeli air strikes. These leaders, with varying experiences of exile, imprisonment, and assassination attempts, have shaped Hamas’s political and military trajectory over the decades.