16 Facts About Nizar Rayan

Nizar Rayan was a high-ranking Hamas leader who served as a liaison between the Palestinian organization's political leadership and its military wing.

Nizar Rayan was born in Jabalia, Gaza Strip on 6 March 1959.

Nizar Rayan then attended the University of Jordan in Amman and in 1990 received a masters MSc degree with honors.

In 1994, Nizar Rayan completed his PhD in Islamic studies at the Omdurman Islamic University in Omdurman, Sudan.

Nizar Rayan's dissertation has the title of Future of Islam: Objective Analysis.

Nizar Rayan later became a professor of Islamic law at the Islamic University of Gaza.

Nizar Rayan was a leading authority on Hadith, and he amassed a 5,000-book library in his home.

Nizar Rayan arguably became Hamas's leading clerical authority after an Israeli airstrike killed Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 2004.

In 2001, Nizar Rayan sent his 22-year-old son on a suicide bombing mission, in which he died and killed two Israelis at the former Israeli settlement Elei Sinai in the Gaza Strip.

Nizar Rayan is alleged to have directed the 2004 Ashdod Port attack which killed ten people.

Nizar Rayan was one of the main commanders who oversaw the 2007 Battle of Gaza, in which Hamas expelled Fatah from Gaza.

Nizar Rayan married four women with whom he had 12 children.

The day before the attack, Nizar Rayan had advocated renewal of suicide bombings on Israel, declaring, "Our only language with the Jews is through armed resistance and Jihad".

Unlike other Hamas leaders at risk of being targeted by Israel, Nizar Rayan did not go underground after the first Gaza war with Israel began in late December 2008.

Israeli security sources stated that Nizar Rayan's house, at the time of the attack, was a munitions warehouse and communications center, and contained a tunnel opening.

Nizar Rayan was the most senior Hamas member killed in a targeted killing since Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi was killed by an Israeli Apache helicopter strike in 2004.