(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/121207-meshaal-gaza-hmed-6a.photoblog600.jpg)Suhaib Salem / Pool via EPAHamas chief Khaled Meshaal shakes hands with supporters upon his arrival Friday at the Rafah crossing in the southern Gaza Strip.By Ayman Mohyeldin, NBC News CAIRO -- The head of Hamas' political wing Khaled Mashaal entered the Gaza Strip Friday in an unprecedented move by the organization.
Follow @NBCNewsWorld (https://twitter.com/NBCNewsWorld) Mashaal, 56, is the head of Hamas' politburo-in-exile and the most senior Hamas figure in the entire organization.
He technically oversees the political wing and the military wing, known as the Al Qassam Brigades.
His visit to Gaza is his first to the Palestinian territories since 1967, when he left at the age of 11 as Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip in the Six-Day War.
Mashaal survived an assassination attempt in Jordan in 1997 that was embarrassing for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- who was serving as premier in his first stint at the time -- because the Mossad agents were caught.
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