Hamas Political Leader Ismail Haniyeh Killed In Iran By An Israeli Strike

The political head of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was allegedly killed in an Israeli attack in Tehran, Iran’s capital.

Iranian media reported that Haniyeh was residing at a war veterans’ building in Tehran when an airstrike struck it at around 2:00 PM (22:30 GMT).

The 62-year-old Haniyeh was regarded by many as the general head of Hamas and was instrumental in efforts to broker a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.

While Israel has remained silent, it has vowed to destroy Hamas in the wake of the 1,200-person attack on southern Israel on October 7.

The Israeli government’s press office uploaded a picture of Haniyeh to social media on Wednesday, captioning it with the term “eliminated.” The image has since been removed.

As per Hamas, Haniyeh traveled to Tehran to participate in the inauguration ceremony of Masoud Pezeshkian, the newly appointed Iranian President, who took the oath of office on Tuesday.

Given that he was a crucial mediator in the talks mediated by Qatar, the US, and Egypt, his passing could potentially postpone attempts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza.

Iraq, Turkey, Russia, and Qatar are among the nations that have denounced the attack. “Something we were not aware of or involved in” was how US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described the assassination.

The armed wing of Hamas declared that Haniyeh’s passing would “take the battle to new dimensions” and have far-reaching effects.

Ayatollah Khamenei, the leader of Iran, has proclaimed three days of national mourning and promised “harsh punishment” for Israel.

Haniyeh passed away just a few hours after Israel declared it had assassinated Hezbollah’s chief military leader, a group based in Lebanon that is also supported by Iran.

Israel claimed that Fuad Shukr was killed in an airstrike as payback for a rocket attack that took place over the weekend in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Hezbollah has stated Shukr was at a building that was struck, although it has not officially acknowledged that a senior commander was slain by an Israeli attack in Beirut on Tuesday.

The group said in its statement on Wednesday that “since the incident, the civil defense teams have been working to lift the destruction steadily, but slowly, due to the situation of the destroyed classes, and we are still waiting for the result.”

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stated that his nation was “prepared to handle all scenarios” but was not looking to exacerbate its relationship with Hezbollah.

During the first Palestinian uprising in 1989, Israel imprisoned Haniyeh for three years, even though he was a well-known member of Hamas in the late 1980s.

Along with several other Hamas officials, he was then banished in 1992 to a no-man’s territory between Israel and Lebanon.

President Mahmoud Abbas nominated Haniyeh as prime minister of Palestine in 2006 when Hamas secured the majority of seats in the national elections. Nevertheless, a year later, he was fired after the group’s bloody takeover of the Gaza Strip from Mr. Abbas’s Fatah party.

Declaring that his administration “would not abandon its national responsibilities towards the Palestinian people,” Haniyeh rejected his sacking as “unconstitutional” and went on to control Gaza.

In 2017, he was chosen to lead Hamas’ political bureau. The US Department of State classified Haniyeh as a terrorist in 2018. He had spent several years residing in Qatar.

A top Hamas official has announced that his official funeral will take place on Thursday in Tehran, and his burial will take place on Friday in Doha, Qatar.

Israeli officials frequently make the point that Iran serves as the hub for the so-called “arc of resistance” in the Middle East, which is made up of the Houthis in Yemen, Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank, and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The execution of the Hamas leader in Iran sends a clear and frightening message to militant groups and their Iranian supporters: Israel can and will pursue you wherever you are. This comes after the group dealt a blow to Hezbollah in Beirut and, more recently, the Houthis in Hodeidah.