About Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi
Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi (Arabic: عبد العزيز الرنتيسي; 23 October 1947 – 17 April 2004) was a Palestinian political leader and co-founder of Hamas, along with Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 1987. He also served as the chairman of the Hamas Shura Council from the assassination of Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin on 22 March 2004 until his own assassination in April 2004 and the first deputy chairman of the Hamas Shura Council from December 1987 until March 2004. Rantisi was born in Yibna, Mandatory Palestine in 1947. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, his family fled or were expelled by Zionist militias to the Gaza Strip. In 1956, when he was nine, Israeli soldiers killed his uncle in front of him in Khan Younis, which he stated had a lifelong impact on him. He studied pediatric medicine and genetics at Alexandria University in Egypt, graduating first in his class; during that time he became a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. In 1976, he returned to Gaza to teach parasitology and genetics at the Islamic University of Gaza. During the First Intifada against the Israeli occupation in 1988, he became a popular organizer and a leader whose efforts helped the formation of Hamas. Rantisi became Hamas's political leader and spokesman in the Gaza Strip following the Israeli killing 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 17 April 2004, Rantisi was assassinated by the Israeli Air Force, which fired Hellfire missiles from an AH-64 Apache helicopter at his car.
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