The Globe and Mail

Sheik Ahmed Yassin


Israel assassinated Hamas’s founder and long-time leader in an air strike in 2004.


Photo: Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, the spiritual leader of the radical Islamic group Hamas, looks on as supporters gather in his house
during a rally in Gaza City 16 January 2004. (Mahmud Hams/AFP)


Sources: Reuters, Associated Press, NYT

Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi


He took over the leadership of Hamas after Sheik Yassin’s death in 2004 until he was assassinated himself by Israel a month later.


Photo: Dr. Abdel Aziz Rantissi the leader of Hamas is surrounded by bodyguards, Thursday, April 8, 2004. (Karel Prinsloo/AP).


Sources: Reuters, Associated Press, NYT

Mahmound Zahar


A surgeon who taught medicine at Gaza's Islamic University, he’s a co-founder of Hamas, and one of its more
respected figures. He speaks fluent English and serves as an important contact point between Hamas and Western governments, few of which recognize the group because of its hostility to Israel, but nonetheless have indirect ties. Two of his sons have been killed
in separate Israeli air strikes, including one who died in a failed 2003 assassination attempt on Mr. Zahar himself. (Globe and Mail video screen capture)


Sources: Reuters, Associated Press, NYT

Khaled Meshal


He has been the leader of Hamas since the assassination of Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi in 2004. Born in Ramallah in the West Bank, he became involved in Islamist student politics as a student in Kuwait. He lives in Damascus under Syria’s protection. Israeli agents tried to assassinate him in Jordan in 1997.


Photo: Undated photo of Meshal. Ali Jarekji/Reuters


Sources: Reuters, Associated Press, NYT

Ismail Haniyeh


The Hamas prime minister for Gaza, he was born in a Gazan refugee camp and went to a UN school for refugees then the Islamic University in Gaza, where he became involved in student politics. He was a close aide to Sheik Yassin and headed Hamas’s election list, becoming Palestinian prime minister until president Mahmoud Abbas fired him in 2007.


Photo: Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas smiles as he heads a cabinet meeting in Gaza City, Monday July 16, 2007. (Hatem Moussa/AP)


Sources: Reuters, Associated Press, NYT