Ayman Taha () (died 7 August 2014) was a senior

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

official and the organization's spokesman in the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

. Taha was the son of a co-founder of Hamas and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' claimed he was also a former "Hamas fighter".Bronner, Ethan
Hamas Shifts From Rockets to Public Relations
''

''. 23 July 2009
Philippine Daily Inquirer 4 March 2003

Early life

Ayman was born to Mohammad Taha, a co-founder of Hamas and director at the

Islamic University of Gaza The Islamic University of Gaza (), also known as IUG and IU Gaza, is an independent Palestinian university established in 1978 in Gaza City. It was the first higher education institution to be established in the Gaza Strip. The university has ...

. In 1998, Ayman Taha served as President of the University's Student Council. He later served as a commander of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades in

Bureij Bureij () is a Palestinian refugee camp located in the central Gaza Strip east of the Salah al-Din Road in the Deir al-Balah Governorate. The camp's total land area is 529 dunam, dunums and in 2017, it had a population of 28,024 with 28,770 regi ...

during the

Second Intifada The Second Intifada (; ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, was a major uprising by Palestinians against Israel and its Israeli-occupied territories, occupation from 2000. Starting as a civilian uprising in Jerusalem and October 2000 prot ...

in the early 2000s.

Hamas

After the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, Taha became the group's spokesman for the territory. In February 2009, after returning from a

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

delegation in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

discussing a long-term truce with

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, Egyptian authorities prevented Taha from entering the Gaza Strip with over $11 million. Instead, he deposited it in an Egyptian bank in

al-Arish ʻArish or el-ʻArīsh ( ' ) is the capital and largest city of the North Sinai Governorate of Egypt, as well as the largest city on the Sinai Peninsula, lying on the Mediterranean coast northeast of Cairo and west of the Egypt–Gaza border. T ...

. On 30 March, he announced in a discussion on a

Nazareth Nazareth is the largest Cities in Israel, city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. In its population was . Known as "the Arab capital of Israel", Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and ...

-based radio station the Hamas "would not remain open forever" concerning the release of Israeli soldier

Gilad Shalit Gilad Shalit (, ''Gilˁad Šaliṭ'' ; born 28 August 1986) is a former MIA soldier of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) who, on 25 June 2006, was captured by Palestinian militants in a cross-border raid via tunnels near the Israeli border. Ham ...

. In July 2009, Taha noted that a "culture of resistance" was being promoted in Gaza after the

Gaza War The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

, stating "Armed resistance is still important and legitimate, but we have a new emphasis on cultural resistance... After the war, the fighters needed a break and the people needed a break."

Accusations of corruption

In February 2014, Ayman Taha was arrested and investigated for "misconduct, illegal profiteering, and betrayal of trust".

Death

Taha was killed by a Hamas firing squad during

Operation Protective Edge The 2014 Gaza War, also known as Operation Protective Edge (, ), and Battle of the Withered Grain (), was a military operation launched by Israel on 8 July 2014 in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory that has been governed by Hamas since ...

. Hamas accused him of being an Egyptian spy and executed him at point blank range. One source claims that he was executed because he may implicate several Hamas officials in a corruption scandal. Later, they blamed Israel for being responsible for his death, claiming he died from an Israeli airstrike.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taha, Ayman 2014 deaths People from the Gaza Strip Hamas members Academic staff of the Islamic University of Gaza People executed by firing squad Deaths by firearm in the Gaza Strip Year of birth missing