Ahmed Yassin, co-founder and leader of the Palestinian Sunni Islamist group Hamas, two bodyguards, and nine civilian bystanders are killed in the Gaza Strip when hit by Israeli Air Force AH-64 Apache
The wheelchair-bound cleric left dawn prayers at a mosque when three Hellfire missiles struck his entourage. Ahmed Yassin, Hamas's spiritual founder, was 67 and nearly blind — Israel's Shin Bet had tracked him for years but Prime Minister Ariel Sharon finally ordered the strike on March 22, 2004. The attack killed two bodyguards and nine bystanders in Gaza City. Sharon calculated it would weaken Hamas. Instead, membership applications surged 300% within weeks, and Yassin's successor, Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, was killed just 25 days later in an identical strike. The man Israel eliminated to reduce violence became the martyr who multiplied his movement's reach.
March 22, 2004
22 years ago
Key Figures & Places
Hamas
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Gaza Strip
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Sunni
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Ahmed Yassin
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Palestinian people
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Israeli Air Force
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AH-64 Apache
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AGM-114 Hellfire
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Ahmed Yassin
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Palestinians
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Sunni Islam
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Hamas
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Gaza Strip
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Israeli Air Force
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AGM-114 Hellfire
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Jeque
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January 1
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1937
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Israel
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Gaza City
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Palestine
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Helicopter
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Boeing AH-64 Apache
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Hélio Oiticica
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Israel Defense Forces
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Assassination
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صلاة الفجر
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Mosque
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Muslim Brotherhood
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أحمد الخازندار
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حمدان عاشور
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Egypt
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حسن بن رضوان الخالدي
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