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INDEPTH: MIDDLE EAST
Abdel Aziz Rantisi
CBC News Online | Oct. 28, 2004


Abdel Aziz Rantisi, replaced Sheik Ahmed Yassin as Hamas leader until his death in an Israeli air strike(AP Photo)
Dr. Abdel Aziz Rantisi was trained as a pediatrician. He assumed the leadership of the Palestinian extremist organization Hamas, replacing Sheik Ahmed Yassin, who was assassinated on March 22, 2004, in an Israeli missile strike in Gaza City.

Rantisi didn't last long in the job. He was killed in an Israeli strike on April 17, 2004, less than a month after taking the job.

Rantisi was one of the most high-profile public faces of Hamas. After a secret vote a day after Yassin's death, Rantisi said he had been elected both overall chief of Hamas and head of the political wing.

Considered a hardliner, he opposed ending attacks on Israelis and rejected compromise with Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority.

Rantisi left behind a wife, two sons and four daughters.

1947: Born in Yubna, near Tel Aviv. A year later, his family moved to the Gaza Strip. He has nine brothers and two sisters.

1972: Graduated from faculty of medicine at Egypt's Alexandria University. He returned in 1974 to obtain a master's degree in pediatrics. While there, he joined the Muslim Brotherhood, the group that Hamas grew from.

1976: Chief pediatrician at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis; member of faculty of science at the Islamic University of Gaza.

1987: Became high-profile member of Palestinian intefadah, along with Sheik Ahmed Yassin.

1992: Expelled to Lebanon with 416 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad members. Returned in 1993 as spokesperson for the group of detainees. He has been detained periodically through the 1990s by the Palestinian Authority for criticizing Arafat.

1997: Worked closely with Yassin after he was released from an Israeli prison in 1997.

Jun. 6, 2003: Broke off ceasefire talks with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.

Jun. 10, 2003: Survived Israeli missile attack.

Mar. 23, 2004: Named new leader of Hamas.

April 17, 2004: Killed in an Israeli airstrike.

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