Ismail Haniyeh (Arabic: إسماعيل هنية‎, Ismaʻīl Haniyya; sometimes transliterated as Ismail Haniya, Ismail Haniyah) ( Arabic pronunciation (help·info)); (born January 29, 1963) is a senior political leader of Hamas and one of two disputed Prime Ministers of the Palestinian National Authority, the matter being under political and legal dispute. He became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas conflict, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues to exercise prime ministerial authority in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Legislative Council also continues to recognise his authority.

Haniyeh was born in the Al-Shati refugee camp in the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip. His parents became refugees, after they were expelled from their homes in Majdal (currently Ashkelon, Israel) during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War by Jewish militias. In 1987, he graduated from the Islamic University of Gaza with a degree in Arabic literature. In 1989, he was imprisoned for three years by Israeli authorities for participation in the First Intifada and membership with Hamas. Following his release in 1992, he was exiled to Lebanon with Ahmed Yassin, Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi and other senior Hamas politicians. A year later, he returned to Gaza and was appointed as Dean of the Islamic University.