Ismail Haniyeh traveled on diplomatic missions to Iran and Turkey during the war (File)
The International Criminal Court prosecutor on Monday requested arrest warrants against three senior leaders of the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas, whose bloody October 7 attack triggered the ongoing war.
Karim Khan also said he was requesting arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Here’s what we know about the three Palestinians ICC prosecutor Karim Khan wants to arrest.
Ismail Haniyeh, the politician:
Ismail Haniyeh, 60, was elected head of Hamas’s political bureau in 2017 to succeed Khaled Meshaal, but was already a well-known figure, having become Palestinian prime minister in 2006 following an upset Hamas victory in parliamentary elections. that year.
But the fragile power-sharing agreement with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah movement quickly fell apart and Hamas took full control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, after violently expelling the president’s supporters.
Considered a pragmatist, Haniyeh lives in exile and divides his time between Turkey and Qatar.
He traveled on diplomatic missions to Iran and Turkey during the war, meeting with the Turkish and Iranian presidents.
Haniyeh is said to maintain good relations with the heads of various Palestinian factions, including rivals Hamas.
In his youth, the Hamas leader, known for his calm demeanor, was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood student branch at the Islamic University of Gaza.
He joined Hamas in 1987, when the group was founded amid the outbreak of the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation, which lasted until 1993.
During this period, Haniyeh was arrested several times by Israel and then expelled to southern Lebanon for six months.
In footage broadcast by Hamas-linked media after the October 7 attack, Haniyeh was seen watching television footage of the attack on Israel unfolding, before joining other Hamas leaders in a prayer to “thank Allah for this victory “.
Although more than seven months of war have left areas of Gaza in rubble, Haniyeh has repeatedly insisted that the group would only hand over hostages if there was a permanent end to the fighting.
Mohammed Deif, the ‘chief of staff’
The elusive Mohammed Deif leads Hamas’ armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.
He is Israel’s public enemy number one and a man they have tried to assassinate at least six times.
Deif, whose real name is Mohammed Diab al-Masri, was born in 1965 in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in Gaza.
He has also been on the US “international terrorist” list since 2015.
Regarded by Hamas as the group’s “chief of staff”, Deif announced the start of Hamas’ attack on Israel dubbed the “Al-Aqsa Flood” in an audio message on October 7.
In the recording, Deif is heard saying that “the enemy’s positions and fortifications were targeted by 5,000 rockets and projectiles during the first 20 minutes” of the attack.
Only a few low-quality photographs of Deif are known to exist, the most recent taken around 20 years ago.
His hiding place is unknown and he is said to be a master of disguise, adept at blending in with the Palestinian population.
He has been involved with Hamas since the 1980s and is alleged to have participated in many of its operations, including the kidnapping of soldiers and suicide attacks.
He was appointed head of Hamas’ military wing in 2002, following the death of his predecessor, Salah Shehade, in an Israeli airstrike.
Two years earlier, at the start of the second intifada, Deif escaped or was released from a prison run by Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority.
Shortly after he was appointed military chief of Hamas, Israel launched its fifth attempt to assassinate him in Gaza, in an attack that left him seriously injured, with unconfirmed reports suggesting he had been rendered a paraplegic.
In 2014, Israel launched an airstrike on Gaza, killing Deif’s wife and one of the couple’s children.
His enemies nicknamed him the “cat with nine lives,” while many Palestinians consider him a living legend.
Yahya Sinwar, the ‘strong man’ of Gaza
A former commander of Hamas’ military wing, Yahya Sinwar, 61, was elected in 2017 head of the Hamas group in Gaza.
Now, Israeli authorities say he is a “dead man walking.”
Sinwar is accused of masterminding the group’s October 7 attack on communities in southern Israel.
He rose through the ranks of Hamas as a fierce supporter of the armed struggle against Israel and is considered the group’s “minister of defense.”
Sinwar, who knows Israel well and speaks Hebrew, spent 23 years in Israeli prisons before being released in 2011 in a prisoner swap involving French-Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Like Deif, he is also on the US list of wanted “international terrorists”.
Israeli officials have said the ongoing offensive in Gaza is aimed at targeting senior Hamas leaders, including Sinwar.
Known for his secrecy, Sinwar is a security operator “par excellence”, according to Abu Abdallah, a member of Hamas who spent years alongside him in Israeli prisons.
Like Deif, he was born in the Khan Yunis refugee camp and it was Sinwar who created the group’s internal security apparatus.
Since the start of the war, Sinwar’s whereabouts have been unknown, but the Israeli army released a video in February that it said showed him being led through a tunnel along with a woman and three children.
(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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