Ismail Abdulsalam Ahmed Haniyeh was born to a family of Muslim Palestinians in the al-Shati refugee camp of the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip. His parents were originally living in what is now Ashkelon before the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight, which took place during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. In his youth, he worked in Israel to support his family. He attended United Nations–run schools and graduated from the Islamic University of Gaza with a degree in Arabic literature in 1987. He become involved with Hamas while at university. From 1985 to 1986, he was head of the students’ council representing the Muslim Brotherhood. He played as a midfielder in the Islamic Association football team.He graduated at about the time that the First Intifada against the Israeli occupation broke out, during which he participated in protests against Israel.