Today commemorates the 17th anniversary of the martyrdom of the doctor and leader in Hamas Abdel Aziz Al-Rantisi and his two companions who were all targeted by an Israeli warplane and were martyred in Al-Rantisi’s car in Gaza.
Abdel Aziz Al-Rantisi wa born in Yibna in 1947. He worked as a doctor after receiving his MA in Pediatrics from Alexandria University in Cairo. He then started working as a lecturer at the Islamic University from its establishment in 1978. He was member in the Board of Islamic Center, the Medical Society, and the Red Crescent.
He became member of the Muslim Brotherhood while doing his masters in Egypt. He then headed the Brotherhood in Khan Yunus in south the Gaza Strip. He co-founded Hamas movement in 1987 and took part in the resistance work since the beginning of the Intifada.
Al-Rantisi was banished in 1992 along with 400 activists from Hamas and Jihad to south Lebanon. He became the spokesperson of the banished who were steadfast in Al-Awda Camp in Marj Al-Zuhur to force the occupation to accept their return. After he returned from Marj Al-Zuhur, the occupation arrested him.
The total number of years of his imprisonment was 7, most of which he was kept in solitary. The occupation attempted his assassination several times until they succeeded in 2004.
