The death of top Hamas leader and key strategist Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran early on Wednesday dealt a significant blow to the terror group and could potentially alter the course of the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

Haniyeh, who had been living in exile, played a pivotal role in orchestrating Hamas’s Oct. 7 assault on Israel and was seen celebrating the attack from Turkey.

Haniyeh’s journey began in 1962 in Gaza’s Shati refugee camp. In his early years, he worked in construction in the Israeli city of Ashkelon, while three of his sisters settled in the Negev region.