A spokesman for Hamas in
He described himself as one of the seven founders of Hamas and was considered by many as second only in importance to the group's spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
Yassin was assassinated in a similar missile attack by
An Egyptian-trained pediatrician, Dr. al-Rantissi was a popular figure in
A committed Islamist, al-Rantissi rose to prominence with Hamas during the first Palestinian Intifada in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
He was arrested by
Al-Rantissi was among 415 men associated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad expelled to southern
Al-Rantissi later spent time in Palestinian Authority jails for speaking out against peacemaking with
After his return to
Palestinian officials arrested him in 1998 after he demanded that a number of senior PA figures resign.
The Palestinian High Court of Justice ordered his release some two months after he was arrested.
He remained a regular critic of the PA, condemning it for its apparent willingness to compromise with
Al-Rantissi criticized former PA Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas for participating in a conference with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and U.S. President George W. Bush in
In 2003, al-Rantissi survived an Israeli assassination attempt.
Suffering leg, arm, and chest wounds, the spokesman escaped a U.S.-made Apache helicopter gunship attack.
The helicopter fired seven missiles on his car, and killed two passers-by -- a mother and her five-year-old daughter.
His death leaves Khalid Mishaal – the Hamas politburo chief living in exile -- as the most senior and best-known representative for the Islamist resistance movement.
Al-Rantissi was already a marked man when he took over from his assassinated predecessor Ahmed Yassin as
After
Israeli security sources said four drones had been continuously patrolling the skies of
Al-Rantissi, 56, had long depicted himself as a Hamas politician with no links to the military wing.
Al-Rantissi was born on
He grew up in the Khan Younis refugee camp and received his medical training in
He was jailed on and off for years by
Since the start of the latest uprising, the Al-Aqsa Intifada, he had played a major role in building Hamas support, often at the expense of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and his mainstream Fatah faction.
He had served as Hamas leader in
"My priority is to unite the Palestinians in the trenches of resistance because there is no one left who believes in something called the peace process," al-Rantissi told journalists that day.
"We will fight them until the liberation of
(Courtesy of Al-Jazeera, Associated Press, Reuters, and other wire services)
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End
MNA
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