Hamas Political Leader Killed in Israeli Strike in Iran

Hamas announced Wednesday that its political head, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in an Israeli strike in Iran, where he was attending the new president’s inauguration.

Aniyeh’s death came after Israel struck a Hezbollah base in southern Beirut on Tuesday, killing a top commander of the Iran-backed group it claimed was responsible for a weekend rocket attack on Israel’s seized Golan Heights.

“Brother, leader, mujahid Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the movement, died in a Zionist strike on his headquarters in Tehran after he participated in the inauguration of the new (Iranian) president,” the Palestinian militant group stated.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards also confirmed Haniyeh’s death, claiming that his home in Tehran was “hit” and he was killed along with a bodyguard.

“The residence of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political office of Hamas Islamic Resistance, was hit in Tehran, and as a result of this incident, him and one of his bodyguards were martyred,” according to a statement on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Sepah news website.
The Guards stated that the cause of the incident was not immediately evident, but that it was “being investigated.”

Haniyeh had traveled to Tehran on Tuesday to witness Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s swearing-in ceremony.

The Israeli army failed to respond to foreign media reporting.

– ‘Axis of resistance’

Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas and bring back all hostages taken during the October 7 attack, which sparked the war in the Gaza Strip.

The attack launched by Hamas on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Militants also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,400 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, which does not provide details on civilian and militant deaths.

Regional tensions have risen since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas conflict in October, attracting Iran-backed extremist organizations in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen.

Haniyeh was named leader of Hamas’ political bureau in 2017, succeeding Khaled Meshaal.

He was already a well-known figure, having been appointed Palestinian prime minister in 2006 after Hamas won an upset victory in the parliamentary election.

Haniyeh, a pragmatist, resided in exile and divided his time between Turkey and Qatar.

During the war, he went on diplomatic missions to Iran and Turkey, where he met the Turkish and Iranian presidents.

Haniyeh was considered to have good connections with the leaders of numerous Palestinian factions, including Hamas’ opponents.

He joined Hamas in 1987, just as the militant group was created in the midst of the first Palestinian intifada, or revolt against Israeli occupation, which lasted until 1993.

Hamas is a member of the “axis of resistance,” which includes Tehran-aligned groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Huthis in Yemen, who are allied against Israel.

Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iran has made support for the Palestinian cause a central part of its foreign policy.

It praised Hamas’ October 7 strike on Israel while denying any connection.

AFP