Lists On the evening of 17 April 2004, the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, aged 56, was assassinated by missiles fired by Israeli warplanes on the car he was traveling in.

[6] Al-Rantisi had narrowly escaped an assassination attack on June 10, 2003, as an Apache aircraft identified his location and targeted his vehicle with a missile.

Al-Rantisi, still under the influence of anesthesia following the surgical procedure, committed to "persisting with the resistance efforts.

On 10 June 2003, Al-Rantisi had survived an assassination attempt by an Apache helicopter, in which he and his son were wounded.

[24] Khaled Hroub maintains that the murders of Ranitsi and Yassin resulted in a paradox for the movement, with a surge in Hamas's popularity juxtaposed with a significant weakening of the organization.