Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi

Abdel Aziz Ali Abdul Majid al-Rantisi (; 23 October 1947 – 17 April 2004), nicknamed the "Lion of Palestine", was the co-founder of Palestinian Islamist terror organization Hamas, along with Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Rantisi became Hamas's political leader and spokesman in the Gaza Strip following the Israeli killing of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in March 2004. Rantisi opposed compromise with Israel and called for the creation of a Palestinian state (including the whole of the State of Israel) through military action against the US-Backed occupation. On 17 April 2004, the Israeli Air Force killed al-Rantisi by firing Hellfire missiles from an AH-64 Apache helicopter at his car. Early life and education Rantisi was born in Yibna, near Jaffa on 23 October 1947. In the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, his family fled to the Gaza Strip. In 1956, when he was nine, Israeli soldiers killed his uncle in Khan Younis: as he explained to Joe Sacco, this fact was very important for his future life. He studied pediatric medicine and genetics at Egypt's, Alexandria University, graduating first in his class. He was a certified physician. In his time in Egypt he became a deeply convicted member of the Muslim Brotherhood. In 1976, he returned to Gaza to teach parasitology and genetics at the Islamic University.