Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has been killed in Tehran, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said Wednesday morning. Hamas blamed Israel for the attack.
On October 7, Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people. More than 250 were taken prisoner. After the attack, Israel vowed to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders.
A spokesman for the Israeli military did not immediately agree to comment on the matter. Not surprisingly, Israel often avoids answering questions especially when it comes to assassinations carried out by its Mossad intelligence agency.
Hamas said:
“Haniyeh was killed in a Zionist airstrike on his residence in Tehran after he participated in the inauguration of Iran’s new president..”
“Hamas declares to the great Palestinian people and the people of the Arab and Islamic nations and all the free people of the world, brother leader Ismail Ismail Haniyeh a martyr”
Hamas officials did not immediately respond to requests for further comment.
Haniyeh left the Gaza Strip in 2019 and lived in exile in Qatar. The top Hamas leader in Gaza is Yehya Sinwar, who led the October 7 attack.
An Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed three of Haniyeh’s sons and four of his grandchildren in April.
Haniyeh said in an interview at the time that the killings would not force Hamas to soften its stance—ceasefire talks with Israel.
What Haniyeh was doing in Iran
Haniyeh was in Tehran to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. He arrived in Iran on Tuesday along with other Hamas officials. Iran has not released details about how Haniyeh was killed. The Guards said the incident was under investigation.
Analysts on Iranian state television immediately began blaming Israel for the attack. They linked the two incidents: Haniyeh’s killing and the strike in Beirut. The attack, he said, killed Fuad Shukur, a senior Hezbollah military commander.
Hezbollah has not confirmed that Shukur was killed in the strike. At least one woman and two children were killed. Dozens were wounded.
The strike came amid escalating fighting with the Lebanese militant group. The US also accuses Shukur of planning and carrying out the deadly 1983 Marine bombing of the Lebanese capital.
There is currently no comment from the White House. It is worth noting that the Biden administration has been trying to push Hamas and Israel to agree on at least a temporary ceasefire and the release of hostages.
Consequences
More than 39,360 Palestinians have been killed and more than 90,900 wounded in Israel’s war against Hamas since the October attack, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.