SENIOR HAMAS LEADER, NIZAR AWADALLAH, WAS BROUGHT TO GAZA HOSPITAL WHERE HE DIED SHORTLY AFTERWARD UNCONFIRMED
Nizar Awadallah is a long-time member of Hamas and a close friend of Hamas co-founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. *Avadallah was initially declared the winner of the contest, but ultimately lost in the runoff. *
Prior to the official founding of Hamas, Awadallah was involved in and eventually led Al-Mujama Al-Islami, the social, religious and charitable organization that was founded by Yassin in 1973 . Awadallah was reportedly involved in the militant wing of the Mujammah Islamist group. Mujahedin al-Filastayeen (“Palestinian Holy Warriors”). He later joined the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, during the first uprising in the 1980s. *After Israel killed Mujahideen founder Salah Shehadeh in 1987, he reportedly took over Awadallah’s leadership of the faction.
He was subsequently arrested and was in and out of Israeli prisons from 1989 to 1996. Israel bombed Awadallah’s home in Gaza during conflicts with Hamas in 2009 and 2014. *
Hamas is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization that has killed hundreds of Israeli citizens and Americans in suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks. Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip since the violent overthrow of the Palestinian Authority in 2007
Awadallah came in second behind Yahya Sinwar in the 2021 internal elections to decide the group’s leader in Gaza. He was a former leader of Hamas in Gaza and helped negotiate the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011 in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.
In 1989, he was imprisoned by Israel for six years for his membership in Hamas. His home in the Sheikha Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City was twice targeted by Israeli airstrikes. Awadallah was previously a member of the Engineers Union.
