Mahmoud Zahar

Minister of Foreign Affairs
Hamas co-founder, spokesman

Who is Dr. Mahmoud Zahar?

A doctor by trade, Mahmoud al-Zahar helped create the Islamic University in Gaza in 1978. Advisor to the Palestinian health minister. He was one of the founding members of Hamas in 1987, becoming its first press spokesman. Survived an Israeli assassination attempt on 10-Sep-2003, in which Israeli F-16s dropped a several-ton bomb on his house in Rimal, in Gaza City, killing his son Khaled and his bodyguard and injuring al-Zahar, his wife, and one of their daughters.

Son: Khaled Zahar (born 1974 died 10-Sep-2003 by Israeli bombing), two other sons and four daughters.