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Sheikh Nizar Rayan (Template:Lang-ar, also transliterated Rayyan) (March 6, 1959 – January 1, 2009) was a top Hamas military commander who was killed during the 2008–2009 Israel-Gaza conflict.

Background

Rayan was born in Jabalia, Gaza Strip on March 6, 1959. He attended universities in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Sudan, completing a PhD in Islamic studies. Rayan then returned to the Gaza Strip and was employed in several mosques as a preacher, before becoming a professor of Islamic law at the Islamic University in the Gaza Strip. Rayan enjoyed going out on patrol with the militants after delivering lectures. He had a 5,000-book library in his basemant, and was a leading authority on Hadith (the sayings of prophet Muhammad). He was married to four women with whom he had at least eleven children.

An influential preacher at what is known in Jabalia as the "Mosque of martyrs", Rayan mentored suicide bombers. He sent his own son on a suicide mission, which also killed two Israelis at Elei Sinai.

After Hamas ceased deploying suicide bombers against Israel, Rayan advocated for their renewal. When the Israeli military killed Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 2004, Rayan came to be considered Hamas' top clerical authority. Rayan directed and financed the Ashdod Port attack, which killed ten people.

Rayan was one of the architects behind the 2007 Battle of Gaza, in which 400 Palestinian Fatah party members were killed and dozens more Palestinians were tortured and maimed. According to an Hamas spokesperson, it's possible that the Palestinian National Authority asked Israel to kill Rayan due to his role in the Hamas-Fatah clashes. He added that Rayan was one of the main reasons why many of Mahmoud Abbas's men "did not sleep well at night."

Rayan was fundamentally opposed to the state of Israel. He proclaimed, "True Islam would ever allow a Jewish state to survive in the Muslim Middle East. Israel is an impossibility. It is an offense against God."

Rayan believed that Jews are a "cursed people" and some were transformed into pigs and apes by Allah. He also believed that Jews must pay for murdering prophets of Islam and "closing your ears to the Messenger of Allah."

Israeli attack

Rayan was preaching in a local mosque the day before he was killed and declared: "Our only language with the Jew is through the gun". He also appeared on al-Aqsa television proclaiming, "God willing, the evil state, the Jewish state will not break the resistance.

Rayan was killed in an Israeli Air Force strike on 1 January 2009 during the 2008–2009 Israel-Gaza conflict. A one-ton bomb was dropped on his home killing him, his four wives, and 11 of their children.

Al-Jazeera reports that Rayan "had refused to take security precautions despite Hamas figures being at risk of assassination," and YNET reports while most of Hamas' leaders went into hiding after the Israeli operation began on December 27, 2008, Rayan "recently pledged not to leave his house under any circumstances." YNET also reports that the IDF "tried to warn his family about the imminent attack and urged them to evacuate the place, but they refused to do so," and the New York Daily News gives the source for this information as the Israeli military. The Telegraph reports that "Hamas radio" reported that Rayan had received a text message on his mobile phone from the Israeli military saying they were going to blow up his house, but that he refused to leave. The International Herald Tribune reports that when asked for confirmation on whether or not the IDF delivered a warning, Major Leibovich, an Israeli military spokesperson "could not give details or specify whether Rayyan's family had been warned."

According to the Israeli government, Rayan's house served as an arms and ammunition warehouse and as a Hamas communications center at the time of the attack. The Israeli military said that the many secondary explosions were triggered by the weapons stockpile stored within his house.

Rayan was the most senior Hamas member killed since Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi was killed in Israeli airstrikes in 2004. Hamas said that Israel would pay a "heavy price" for his death.

Personal Life

Rayan had 4 wives and 12 children. All of his wives and 11 of his children were killed in the Israeli attack.

References

1. الغارات الإسرائيلية على قطاع غزة تودي بحياة قيادي بارز في حماس (alarabiya)
2. ^ Nizar Rayyan considered successor of Ahmed Yassin, Jerusalem Post, 01-01-2009.
3. ^ "Israel kills senior Hamas figure". AlJazeera.Net. 1 January 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
4. ^ "IAF kills one of Hamas' top five leaders in Gaza". Haaretz. 2009-01-01. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
5. ^ "Israel fells key Hamas strongman, escalating conflict; says it's ready for ground invasion". New York Daily News. 2009-01-01. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
6. "Israel destroys Hamas homes, flattens Gaza mosque". Yahoo News. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
7. "Top Hamas figure killed in Israeli airstrike; Israel demands monitors as part of a Gaza truce". MSNBC. 2009-01-01. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
8. ^ "Obituary: Nizar Rayyan". BBC. 2009-01-01. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
9. ^ "Israeli strike kills a top Hamas leader in Gaza". Los Angeles Times. 2009-01-01. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
10. ^ "Hamas leader, 20 Palestinians killed in IAF strikes". Ynet. 2009-01-01. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
11. "Profile: Nizar Rayyan". Al-Jazeera. 2009-01-04. Retrieved 2009-01-04.
12. "Hamas Senior Official Rayyan Killed in Israeli Strike". Bloomberg. 2009-01-01. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
13. ^ Goldberg, Jeffrey (2009-01-02). "Nizar Rayyan of Hamas on God's Hatred of Jews". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2009-01-04.
14. Israel raids kill Hamas leader, take Gaza death toll past 400 AFP, 1 January 2009
15. Haaretz Correspondents and Agencies, Amos Harel and Yoav Stern (2 January 2009). "IDF targets senior Hamas figures". Retrieved 2009-01-02. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
16. ^ The Associated Press (January 1, 2009). "Child casualties mount in beseiged Gaza". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
17. "Israeli strike kills senior Hamas leader". Reuters. 2009-01-01. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
18. "Strike Kills Hamas Leader as Israel Demands Global Monitors for Truce". FOX News. 2009-01-01. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
19. ^ "Hamas leader, 20 Palestinians killed in IAF strikes". 1 January 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
20. "Hardline Hamas leader killed in air strike on Gaza home". The Telegraph. January 1, 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
21. Isabel Kershner and Taghreed El Khodary (January 2, 2009). "As bombing continues, Israel allows some foreigners to leave Gaza". Retrieved 2009-01-02.
22. "Israel Kills Top Hamas Figure". New York Post. 2009-01-01. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
23. "Israel destroys Hamas homes, flattens Gaza mosque". Yahoo News. Retrieved 2009-01-02.

External links

• Interview of Rayan in Arabic

• 1959 births
• 2009 deaths
• Hamas members
• People from the Gaza Strip
• Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam
• Muslim Brotherhood leaders