Born in 1960, Hayya earned a doctorate in the Sunnah of the Prophet and Hadith Sciences from the Holy Quran University in Sudan in 1997. He was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council in 2006 as a representative for Gaza City.
His son Hamza, a field commander in Hamas’ armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, was killed in clashes with Israeli forces in eastern Gaza City in 2008.
Eight of his relatives, including several brothers and their sons, were also killed during an Israeli attempt to assassinate him on May 20, 2007, when Israeli forces bombed his family’s gathering place in eastern Gaza City.
Additional members of Hayya’s family have been killed during Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, which has killed more than 73,000 people and injured over 173,000 since October 2023.
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