Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas' international face, was marked for death by Israel over the Oct. 7 attack

BEIRUT (AP) — Ismail Haniyeh was the international face of Hamas, its top leader in exile who kept up the militant group’s ties with allies around the region. At the head of its political hierarchy, he had little military role – but Israel marked him for death after the surprise Oct. 7 attacks.

The 62-year-old Haniyeh was killed in an airstrike Wednesday during a visit to one of Hamas’ most crucial allies, Iran, after attending the inauguration of its new president. Iran and Hamas both accused Israel, which has not commented on the strike.

The assassination would make him the highest-level Hamas official killed by Israel since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks, when militants killed 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages. The Israel-Hamas war that followed has become the deadliest and longest in the Arab-Israeli conflict. More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to health officials in Gaza.

Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’s political bureau, had been in self-imposed exile from Gaza since 2019 and was often seen as a relative moderate in the group. He was one of the few Hamas leaders who said the group, while it rejects recognizing Israel, doesn't oppose a two-state solution. Based in Qatar and often moving around the region, he didn’t have a direct hand in the group’s military wing, known as the Qassam Brigades, but often coordinated between it and political branches.

It is not known what he knew about the military wing’s plan to break out of tightly closed Gaza and attack surrounding communities in southern Israel. The plan was masterminded inside Gaza, likely by Hamas’ leader on the ground Yahya Sinwar and the head of the military wing Mohammed Deif. A Hamas official told the AP only a handful of its commanders on the ground knew about the “zero hour.”

But after the carnage caught Israeli military and intelligence by surprise, Haniyeh embraced the attack, praising it as a humiliating blow to Israel’s aura of invincibility. Within hours, he appeared in a video leading prayers with other Hamas officials thanking God for the attack’s success.

“The Al-Aqsa flood was an earthquake that struck the heart of the Zionist entity and has made major changes at the world level,” Haniyeh said in a speech in Iran during the funeral of late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in May. “Al-Aqsa flood” was Hamas' code name for the Oct. 7 attack.

“We will continue the resistance against this enemy until we liberate our land, all our land,” Haniyeh said.

Michael Milshtein, a Hamas expert at Tel Aviv University, said Haniyeh had a commanding role in the group’s foreign policy and diplomacy, but was less involved in military affairs.

“He was responsible for propaganda, for diplomatic relations, but he was not very powerful,” said Milshtein, a former military intelligence officer. “From time to time, Sinwar even laughed and joked: ‘He’s the more moderate, sophisticated leader, but he doesn’t understand anything about warfare.’”

Still, Israel pledged to kill all of Hamas’ leaders after the attacks, and Haniyeh was high on its list.

Haniyeh was also under the eye of the International Criminal Court, whose chief prosecutor sought arrest warrants against him, Sinwar and Deif for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Similar requests were issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Since 2018, the U.S. had designated Haniyeh as a terrorist, saying he was closely linked to Hamas' military wing.

The threats did not prevent Haniyeh from traveling. He visited Turkey and Iran throughout the war. From Doha, he participated in the negotiations meant to bring about a cease-fire and free the hostages.

Israel’s retaliation cost him his closest relatives. Strikes in April and last month killed three of his sons, four of his grandchildren and one of his sisters. Haniyeh said Israel was acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.”

Haniyeh was born in Gaza’s urban Shati refugee camp to parents who were forced out of the town of Majdal – now the city of Ashkelon in Israel – during the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. Five years after his birth, Israel captured Gaza in the 1967 war, and he grew up under its occupation of the strip.

He joined Hamas when it was founded in 1987 as the “Intifada,” or first major mass Palestinian uprising against Israel’s rule, erupted. He served as an aide to Ahmad Yassin, the group’s founder, as the group broke from other groups and began conducting armed attacks on Israeli troops in the occupied territories.

Haniyeh was detained by Israeli troops in 1989 for Hamas membership and spent three years in prison. In 1992, he was deported to Lebanon with a group of top Hamas officials and founders. He later returned to the Gaza Strip following the 1993 interim peace accords, which were signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization.

That year, Hamas turned to a campaign of suicide bombings against civilians in Israel aimed at thwarting the accords — which now have been stagnant for years.

After Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, Hamas won Palestinian legislative elections in the following year, and Haniyeh was named prime minister in the Palestinian government. Deeply religious and versed in Arabic literature from his university studies, he was known for his flowery rhetoric in his speeches.

But frictions between Hamas and Fatah, the main faction behind the Palestinian Authority, quickly erupted into fighting. Hamas drove the PA out of Gaza and seized power there in 2007 causing a split that has endured since.

While the PA ruled in enclaves of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Haniyeh became prime minister in Gaza. That made him the lead man in Hamas's first effort at governing, as it clamped down control. Conditions and poverty worsened under an Israel-Egyptian blockade.

Eventually, he was named Hamas’ top political leader, replacing Khaled Mashaal in 2017, and soon after went into exile.

Hani Masri, a veteran Palestinian analyst who met Haniyeh several times, said Haniyeh’s personality was a natural fit for his political role in Doha. He described him as sociable and well-spoken.

Still, some Palestinians in Gaza resented Haniyeh’s distance from their woes inside the beleaguered territory. Israel often seized on that, portraying him and other Hamas leaders as living in luxury in Doha hotels while Palestinians suffer.

Iranian media on Wednesday quoted a past speech by Haniyeh in which he said the Palestinian cause has “costs.”

“We are ready for these costs: martyrdom for the sake of Palestine, and for the sake of God Almighty, and for the sake of the dignity of this nation.”

Associated Press writers Jack Jeffery in Ramallah, West Bank and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.

This article corrects Haniyeh’s age when he died. He was 62.

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, center, sits prior to the start of the swearing-in ceremony of newly-elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian at the Iranian parliament, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, center, arrives at the Iranian parliament to attend the swearing-in ceremony of newly-elected President Masoud Pezeshkian, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh claps as newly-elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks while deputy leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Sheikh Naim Kassem, left, sits during the swearing-in ceremony of Pezeshkian at the Iranian parliament, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

FILE - Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh speaks during a press briefing after his meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian in Tehran, Iran, March 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

Palestinian Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, center, flashes a victory sign as he is surrounded by a group of Iranian lawmakers after the conclusion of the swearing-in ceremony of newly-elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian at the parliament in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, President Masoud Pezeshkian, right, shakes hands with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh at the start of their meeting at the President's office in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh arrives at the Iranian parliament to attend the swearing-in ceremony of newly-elected President Masoud Pezeshkian, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, President Masoud Pezeshkian, right, meets Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, at the President's office in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)

FILE - Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, speaks to journalists after his meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Lebanon, June 28, 2021. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — United States President Donald Trump's sweeping new tariffs on American imports shocked governments and investors around the world, swiftly spurring both threats of retaliation and calls for negotiation as industries scrambled and global stocks tumbled.

China accused the U.S. of “bullying” and the European Union promised “robust” countermeasures, with French officials suggesting taxes to hit U.S. tech giants.

Yet the United Kingdom and Japan, among others, expressed hope for a deal with Trump and refrained from talk of retaliation against the world's biggest economy, fearing that slapping their own tariffs on American goods would only make things worse.

Trump said Wednesday that the import taxes, ranging from 10% to 49%, would reverse unfair treatment by American trading partners and draw factories and jobs back home.

“Taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years,” he said. “But it is not going to happen anymore.”

Trump imposed a 34% levy on goods from China on top of an earlier 20% tariff, as well as a 20% tariff on the EU, 24% on Japan and 25% on South Korea.

China, a key exporter to the U.S. of everything from clothing to kitchenware, has already announced a raft of retaliatory measures expected to raise prices for U.S. consumers.

“There are no winners in trade wars and tariff wars,” China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said. “It's clear to everyone that more and more countries are opposing the unilateral bullying actions of the U.S."

French President Emmanuel Macron met with representatives from key commercial sectors affected by the tariffs, like wines and spirits, cosmetics and aircraft, after urging businesses to suspend all investments in the U.S. “What would be the message of having major European players investing billions of euros in the American economy at a time when they’re hitting us?” Macron asked.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen denounced Trump's levies as a “major blow to the world economy” but held off announcing new countermeasures. She said the commission — which handles trade issues for the 27 EU member countries — was “always ready” to talk.

Analysts say there’s little to be gained from an all-out trade war, since higher tariffs can restrain growth and raise inflation.

“Europe will have to respond, but the paradox is that the EU would be better off doing nothing,” said Matteo Villa, a senior analyst at Italy’s Institute for International Political Studies.

“Trump seems to understand only the language of force, and this indicates the need for a strong and immediate response,” Villa said. “The hope, in Brussels, is that the response will be strong enough to induce Trump to negotiate and, soon, to backtrack.”

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told Italian state TV on Thursday that she hoped for exactly that.

“We need to open an honest discussion on the matter with the Americans, with the goal — at least from my point of view— of removing tariffs, not multiplying them,’’ Meloni said.

Europe's strategy so far has been to limit retaliation to a few politically sensitive goods, like whiskey and Harley-Davidson motorcycles, in an attempt to push the U.S. to the negotiating table.

Economists say that Europe could broaden the trade war to the vast services sector by targeting Big Tech — a category more vulnerable to retaliation because the U.S. exports more than it imports.

The EU response could include a tax on U.S. digital giants such as Google, Apple, Meta, Amazon and Microsoft, as French officials have recommended.

Outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the EU "must show that we have strong muscles.” But he expressed no appetite for sparking an all-out trade war that could hobble the bloc's export-dependent economy.

“An agreement,” he said, "is best for prosperity in the U.S., for prosperity in Europe and for prosperity in the world.”

British Prime Minister Kier Starmer said his government would react with “cool and calm heads," telling business leaders in London that he hoped to strike a trade deal with the U.S. that would see the tariffs rescinded.

“Nobody wins in a trade war, that is not in our national interest,” Starmer said.

Japan, the biggest foreign investor in the U.S. and its closest ally in Asia, plans to assess the impact of the tariffs, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said, displaying a more conciliatory approach.

The round of tariffs jolted financial markets, with the U.S. Standard & Poors 500 off 3.7% in afternoon trading.

The STOXX Europe 600 index fell 2.7% and a 2.8% drop in Tokyo’s benchmark led losses in Asia. Oil prices sank more than $2 a barrel. Analysts fished for superlatives to convey the disruption to the global trading order as Trump's announcement overturned decades of efforts to lower tariffs through free trade agreements and negotiations.

“The magnitude of the rollout — both in scale and speed — wasn’t just aggressive; it was a full-throttle macro disruption,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said.

With an average tariff of 25%-30%, the highest since the early 20th century, the U.S. has initiated a “radical policy reordering,”said Deutsche Bank's Jim Reid.

The head of the World Trade Organization warned that U.S. protectionist measures will likely cause global trade volumes to drop by about 1% this year.

“I’m deeply concerned about this decline and the potential for escalation into a tariff war with a cycle of retaliatory measures that lead to further declines in trade,” said WTO Director-General Ngozi Iweala-Okonjo.

The tariffs are not paid by the foreign countries they target, but by the U.S.-based companies that buy the goods to sell to Americans.

Now companies must decide whether to absorb the new taxes or pass them on to consumers in the form of higher prices.

The makers of Italy’s Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, for instance, say the new tariffs mean U.S. consumers will pay more for their crumbly pasta topping.

“Americans continued to choose us even when the price went up” after an earlier round of Trump tariffs in 2019, said Nicola Bertinelli, president of the Parmigian Reggiano Consortium. “Putting tariffs on a product like ours, only increases the price for American consumers, without protecting local producers."

The Consumer Brands Association, which represents big food companies like Coca-Cola and General Mills as well as consumer product makers like Procter & Gamble, warned that although its businesses make most of their goods in the U.S., they now face tariffs on critical ingredients — like wood pulp for toilet paper or cinnamon — that must be imported because of domestic scarcity.

“We encourage President Trump and his trade advisors to fine-tune their approach and exempt key ingredients and inputs in order to protect manufacturing jobs and prevent unnecessary inflation at the grocery store,” said Tom Madrecki, the association’s vice-president of supply chain resiliency.

A eye-popping 29% tariff imposed on Norfolk Island came as a shock to the remote South Pacific outpost's 2,000 inhabitants, particularly as its governing nation, Australia, was hit with a far lower tariff of 10%.

“To my knowledge, we do not export anything to the United States,” Norfolk Island Administrator George Plant, the Australian government’s representative on the island, said Thursday. “We’re scratching our heads here.”

Vladimir Putin’s Russia, meanwhile, was left off Trump’s list.

AP journalists around the world contributed to this story.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin speaks during a joint press conference with EU Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection Michael McGrath, not pictured, following their meeting at Government Buildings, over the 20% tariff on imports from the EU announced by US President Donald Trump, which will significantly impact Ireland, in Dublin, Thursday April 3, 2025. (Brian Lawless/PA via AP)

EU Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection Michael McGrath speaks during a joint press conference with Taoiseach Micheal Martin, not pictured, following their meeting at Government Buildings, over the 20% tariff on imports from the EU announced by US President Donald Trump, which will significantly impact Ireland, in Dublin, Thursday April 3, 2025. (Brian Lawless/PA via AP)

Behind a television monitor showing U.S. President Donald Trump, the display board with the Dax curve shows falling share prices, in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday April 3, 2025, after the tariff package announced by U.S. President Trump has pushed share prices sharply into negative territory. (Arne Dedert/dpa via AP)

People walk past an electronic stock board showing the day's early loss of Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm Thursday, April 3, 2025 in Tokyo.(AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

U.S. President Donald Trump is seen on a screen as currency traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Containers are stacked at the Port of Los Angeles Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Cranes and shipping containers are seen at a port in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Employee Jon Vazquez-DeAnda cuts keys for a customer at employee-owned Devon Hardware, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

This photo shows vehicles bound for foreign countries at a logistics center in Kawasaki near Tokyo, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Michi Ono/Kyodo News via AP)

President Donald Trump departs after signing an executive order at an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden of the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden of the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump holds a signed executive order during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden of the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington, as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick listens. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)