Grandson Of Hamas Co-Founder Eliminated By IDF, 21 Years After Grandfather

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Reports from Gaza state that the IDF has eliminated Abdel Aziz Mohammed Al-Rantisi, the grandson of one of Hamas’s founders, Abdel Aziz Al-Rantisi, who was himself eliminated in 2004. The grandson was eliminated in IDF targeted bombings in Gaza.

Al-Rantisi senior, a pediatrician and geneticist by profession, became a popular organizer and a leader during the First Intifada in 1988, and his efforts helped the formation of Hamas. Rantisi became Hamas’s political leader and spokesman in the Gaza Strip following the Israeli elimination of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in March 2004. Rantisi opposed compromise with Israel and called for the creation of a Palestinian state (including the whole of the State of Israel) through military action against Israel.

On 8 June 2003, he directed a Hamas-led attack in which four Israeli soldiers were killed at the Erez Crossing in the Gaza Strip. On 10 June 2003, Rantisi survived an Israeli helicopter attack on a car in which he was traveling. He was lightly wounded in the attack, which killed one of his bodyguards, a civilian, and wounded at least 25 others. Rantisi also reportedly threatened, while in his bed in Al-Shifa Hospital, “not a single Jew in Palestine is safe” and “kill Israeli political leaders, because all of them are killers”.

On 17 April 2004, the Israeli Air Force assassinated al-Rantisi by firing Hellfire missiles from an AH-64 Apache helicopter at his car.