Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi was born on October 23, 1947 in Yibna village. Six months after his birth, his family was forced out of their village, following several Zionist massacres took place in neighboring villages.

The family sought refuge in the Gaza Strip, finally settling in the newly-established Khan Younis refugee camp. The journey forever shaped the life of a man who made history.

Growing up as a refugee, he was forced to contribute and share responsibility feeding the family, so he both studied and worked.

But still, he maintained excellent grades, and upon excelling in his matriculation exam, he was able to study medicine in Egypt, graduating in Alexandria University in 1972.

He led a prominent career and an active scientific life, working as a physician at Nasser Hospital in Khanyounis and also as a lecturer in science, genetics and parasitology at the Islamic University in Gaza.

His work as a doctor and lecturer offered him a great chance to interact with people and to lead and effect change. While he very often offered treatment to his people for free, he refused to pay taxes to the Israeli occupation authorities that ruled Gaza Strip at the days, a stand for which he served his first time in occupation prisons.

Although he was imprisoned several times, he never balked at standing for his beliefs and ideas. When the moment was right, he co-founded The Islamic Resistance Movement “Hamas”, along with Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and the other founding members.

Al-Rantisi paid a heavy price for his participation in founding Hamas and his supportive role of the first Palestinian intifada. He was sentenced to two years in Zionist prisons

Upon his release, he was among the first names to appear on the list of deportees to south Lebanon in 1992. In total, he spent 7 years in Israeli prisons.

Al-Rantisi also spent 27 months in the P.A. prisons, where he was arrested several times for speaking up against Oslo accords.

The first time IOF tried to assassinate al-Rantisi was on Ramadan 1, 1992 in the media tent in Marj al-Zohour. A man came pretending to be a translator of a Japanese journalist and secretly left an explosives bag in the tent, which exploded later. Fortunately, the tent was empty when the bag exploded, and no casualties were reported.

IOF tried to assassinate him once again on June 10, 2003. His bodyguard Mustafa Saleh was martyred, and his son Ahmed as well as another little passing-by girl were seriously injured.

Dr. Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi was interviewed once about death by media where he said, "It's Death, either by killing or by cancer. We are all waiting for the last day of our life. Nothing will be changed, if it is by Apachi or by cardiac arrest …I prefer to be by Apachi."

Allah Almighty accepted his wish. On April 17, 2004, Israeli Apaches launched three rockets at his car while he was travelling on Jalaa' Street in Gaza. His bodyguards Ahmed Alghorra and Akram Nassar were martyred in the targeting.

Some half a million Palestinians took part in al-Rantisi's funeral, which was a majestic procession that assured the world that his legacy will not fade.