The head of the Hamas political wing, Ismail Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards have been killed after their home was targeted in Tehran, Iranian news agency Mehr said on Tuesday, citing a statement the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
Haniyeh, usually based in Qatar, had been in the Iranian capital as the country’s new president Masoud Pezeshkian was sworn in.
Hamas have placed the blame on Israel. Hineyeh was killed on Tuesday morning after a “treacherous attack of the Zionists on his residence,” Mehr wrote, citing a statement from the militant group. Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas political office and one of his bodyguards died as a result, they said.
The IRGC said that investigation into the incident is ongoing.
The assassination of Haniyeh is a “cowardly act that will not go unpunished”, Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV has quoted senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk as saying.
“This assassination by the Israeli occupation of Brother Haniyeh is a grave escalation that aims to break the will of Hamas,” senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters. He went on to say that Hamas would continue the path it was following, adding they are “confident of victory.”
Israel had pledged to eliminate Haniyeh and other leaders of Hamas over the group’s October, 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw some 250 others taken hostage. Earlier this year an Israeli air strike in central Gaza killed three sons and four grandchildren of Haniyeh, with the military claiming they were involved in “terrorist activities”. Haniyeh at the time said that about 60 members of his family had been killed since October.
From Qatar, Haniyeh had been the militant group’s diplomatic face, acting as a mediator in ceasefire negotiations and the talks around the return of Israeli hostages during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
You can share this story on social media:
