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

Three Hellfire missiles struck outside a mosque at dawn, killing a wheelchair-bound cleric as he left morning prayers. Ahmed Yassin, the co-founder and spiritual leader of Hamas, was assassinated by an Israeli Air Force helicopter strike in the Gaza Strip on March 22, 2004. Two bodyguards and nine civilian bystanders also died in the attack, which Israel said targeted the man responsible for directing suicide bombings that had killed hundreds of Israeli civilians. Yassin had founded Hamas in 1987 during the First Intifada, building it from a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood into a militant organization with both a political wing and a military arm. Paralyzed from the neck down since a childhood accident, he directed the organization from his modest home in Gaza, combining religious authority with strategic cunning. Israel had arrested him in 1989 and sentenced him to life in prison, then released him in 1997 as part of a deal with Jordan after a botched Mossad assassination attempt on another Hamas leader in Amman. The assassination was ordered by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon during the Second Intifada, a period of intense violence between Israelis and Palestinians. Israel argued that Yassin was not merely a spiritual figurehead but an active decision-maker who approved suicide attacks. The strike required precise intelligence about his daily routine and the authorization of Israel's security cabinet. The killing triggered massive protests across the Palestinian territories and the broader Arab world. Hamas named Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi as Yassin's successor; Israel assassinated him less than a month later. Rather than weakening Hamas, the targeted killings strengthened public support for the organization, which won the Palestinian legislative elections two years later in 2006.