Killing of Ahmed Yassin

Lists On 22 March 2004, the Palestinian leader and one of the founders of Hamas, Ahmed Yassin, 67,[a] was assassinated in Gaza City.

Sheikh Ahmed Yassin - who used a wheelchair due to being quadriplegic since his adolescence - was returning from performing the Fajr prayer,[1] and his companions were also killed immediately.

[2] His assassination caused a state of anger and Palestinian factions vowed revenge, with Hamas saying that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "opened the gates of hell."

[5] IDF helicopters launched multiple missiles with the specific aim of targeting Sheikh Yassin as he was coming back from morning prayers at the mosque near his residence in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza.

The assassination also killed nine Palestinian bystanders and caused injuries to 15 individuals, among them being two sons of Sheikh Yassin.