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)

BRUSSELS (AP) — Facing the prospect that the United States might cut them adrift under President Donald Trump, European Union leaders launched a day of emergency talks Thursday in a bid to beef up their own security and ensure that Ukraine will still be protected.

Friedrich Merz, the likely next chancellor of Germany, and summit chairman Antonio Costa discussed over breakfast in Brussels ways to fortify Europe's defenses on a short deadline. Merz pushed plans this week to loosen the nation’s rules on running up debt to allow for higher defense spending.

Meanwhile, the 27-nation bloc woke up to news that French President Emmanuel Macron would confer with EU leaders about possibility using France’s nuclear deterrent to protect the continent from Russian threats.

It all underscored the sea change that has taken place since Trump took office and immediately upended the cornerstones of cooperation between the United States and Europe that have been the bedrock of Western security since World War II.

“Spend, spend, spend on defense and deterrence. That’s the most important message,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said.

The call is a sharp departure from decades of decline in military spending in Europe, where defense often came last in many budgetary considerations.

The bloc will “take decisive steps forward," Macron told the French nation Wednesday evening. “Member states will be able to increase their military spending,” and “massive joint funding will be provided to buy and produce some of the most innovative munitions, tanks, weapons and equipment in Europe.”

Adding to the ebullient message, he said that “Europe’s future does not have to be decided in Washington or Moscow.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who attended the summit, received warm bonhomie from most leaders — a stark contrast with the verbal lashing he got from Trump less than a week ago in Washington.

“I want to thank all our European leaders," Zelenskyy said. “Strong support from the very beginning of the war. During all this period, and last week, you stayed with us.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has proposed a plan to loosen budget rules so countries that are willing can spend much more on defense. Her proposal is underpinned by 150 billion euros ($162 billion) worth of loans to buy priority military equipment.

Most of the increased defense spending would have to come from national budgets at a time when many countries are already overburdened with debt.

Part of von der Leyen’s plan includes measures to ensure struggling member states will not be punished for going too deep into the red if the spending is earmarked for defense.

“Europe faces a clear and present danger, and therefore Europe has to be able to protect itself, to defend itself,” she said.

France is struggling to reduce an excessive annual budget deficit of 5% of GDP, after running up its total debt burden to 112% of GDP with spending on relief for businesses and consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic and the energy crisis that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Five other countries using the euro currency have debt levels over 100% of GDP: Belgium, Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal.

Europe’s largest economy, Germany, has more room to borrow, with a debt level of 62% of GDP.

Part of any security plan would be the protection of the increasingly beleaguered position of Ukraine.

A Russian missile killed four people staying at a hotel in Zelenskyy’s hometown overnight. He said that a humanitarian organization’s volunteers had moved into the hotel in Kryvyi Rih, in central Ukraine, just before the strike. The volunteers included Ukrainian, American and British nationals, but it wasn't clear whether those people were among the 31 who were wounded.

Early this week, Trump ordered a pause in U.S. military supplies being sent to Ukraine as he sought to press Zelenskyy to engage in negotiations to end the war with Russia. The move brought fresh urgency to Thursday's summit.

The meeting was unlikely to address Ukraine’s most pressing needs. It was not aimed at drumming up more arms and ammunition to fill any supply vacuum created by the U.S. freeze. Nor will all nations agree to unblock the estimated 183 billion euros ($196 billion) in frozen Russian assets held in a Belgian clearing house, a pot of ready cash that could be seized.

Still, the Europeans underlined the importance of the moment.

“This is a watershed moment for Europe and Ukraine as part of our European family. It’s also a watershed moment for Ukraine," von der Leyen said as she stood alongside Zekenskyy before striding together into the summit.

But perhaps the biggest challenge for the EU will be building a united stance at a moment when it’s fractured, since much of the bloc's actions requires unanimous support. Hungary is threatening to veto part of the summit statement on Ukraine, as is Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.

“We have to take decisions no matter the one or two which are opposing every time,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said. “Otherwise history will penalize us, and we will pay a very high cost.”

Thursday's summit was unlikely to produce immediate decisions on spending for Ukraine or Europe's own defenses. Another EU summit where the real contours of a plan could become clearer is set for March 20 and 21.

Associated Press writers Sylvie Corbet in Brussels; David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany; Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal; and Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, right, speaks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center, as they arrive for an EU Summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrives for an EU Summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, right, speaks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as they arrive for an EU Summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

From left, European Council President Antonio Costa, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrive for an EU Summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

From left, European Council President Antonio Costa, Belgium's Prime Minister Bart De Wever, Luxembourg's Prime Minister Luc Frieden, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola and Portugal's Prime Minister Luis Montenegro during a round table meeting at an EU Summit in Brussels, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

European Council President Antonio Costa, center left, greets European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas as they arrive for a round table meeting at an EU Summit in Brussels, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, right, speaks with Belgium's Prime Minister Bart De Wever during a round table meeting at an EU Summit in Brussels, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

From left, European Council President Antonio Costa, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speak with the media as they arrive for an EU Summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Harry Nakos)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives for an EU Summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, right, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak with the media as they arrive for an EU Summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

From left, European Council President Antonio Costa, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrive for an EU Summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, right, speaks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center, as they arrive for an EU Summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, left, walks with Friedrich Merz, leader of the Christian Democratic Union, as they arrive for a meeting in Brussels, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

Activists unfurl a large banner in support of Ukraine outside the European Council building ahead of an EU summit in Brussels, Belgium, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a media conference on the defense package at EU headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a media conference on the defense package at EU headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

European Council President Antonio Costa, right, greets Friedrich Merz, leader of the Christian Democratic Union, prior to a meeting at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Activists unfurl a large banner in support of Ukraine outside the European Council building ahead of an EU summit in Brussels, Belgium, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

European Council President Antonio Costa, right, greets Friedrich Merz, leader of the Christian Democratic Union, prior to a meeting at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

European Council President Antonio Costa, right, greets Friedrich Merz, leader of the Christian Democratic Union, prior to a meeting at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

European Council President Antonio Costa, right, greets Friedrich Merz, leader of the Christian Democratic Union, prior to a meeting at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)