Hamas announced on Wednesday that its political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in an Israeli strike in Iran. Haniyeh was in Iran attending the inauguration of the new president when the attack occurred. The militant group has vowed that this act “will not go unanswered.”
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also threatened severe retaliation for Haniyeh’s death. He stated, “We consider it our duty to seek revenge for his blood as he was martyred in the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Israel has not commented on the strike in Tehran, which followed an attack on a Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut the day before. This previous strike targeted a senior commander of the Lebanese militant group, which Israel blames for a deadly rocket attack on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights over the weekend.
“Brother leader, mujahid Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the movement, died in a Zionist strike on his residence in Tehran after he participated in the inauguration of the new Iranian president,” Hamas said in a statement. Musa Abu Marzuk, a member of the Hamas political bureau, declared that the group would retaliate. “The assassination of leader Ismail Haniyeh is a cowardly act and will not go unanswered,” he said.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed Haniyeh’s death, reporting that his residence in Tehran was struck and that he and a bodyguard were killed. Iranian media detailed that the strike occurred at around 2:00 am (2230 GMT), targeting the “special residences for war veterans in north Tehran” where Haniyeh was staying.
Haniyeh had travelled to Tehran to attend Tuesday’s swearing-in of President Masoud Pezeshkian. On Wednesday, Pezeshkian vowed to make Israel “regret” Haniyeh’s killing, stating, “The Islamic Republic of Iran will defend its territorial integrity, honour, pride, and dignity, and make the terrorist invaders regret their cowardly action.”
International Reactions and Potential Regional Fallout
The killing of Ismail Haniyeh has drawn widespread condemnation and warnings of potential repercussions. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas condemned the strike as a “cowardly act,” and Palestinian factions in the Israeli-occupied West Bank called for a general strike and protest marches across the territory.
Syria, an ally of Iran, warned that the strike could “set the region ablaze.” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also condemned the “perfidious assassination” of the Hamas leader. Russia labeled the event a “completely unacceptable political assassination” that would “lead to a further escalation of tensions.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas in retaliation for its October 7 attacks on Israel, which triggered the current war in Gaza. These attacks resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Militants also took 251 hostages, 111 of whom remain captive in Gaza, including 39 who the military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign against Hamas has killed at least 39,400 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which does not provide a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths. The conflict has significantly heightened regional tensions, drawing in Iran-backed militant groups from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen.
Haniyeh’s Legacy and Role in Hamas
Ismail Haniyeh was elected head of the Hamas political bureau in 2017, succeeding Khaled Meshaal. He became a prominent figure as the Palestinian prime minister in 2006 after Hamas’s surprising victory in the parliamentary elections that year. Known as a pragmatist, Haniyeh lived in exile, splitting his time between Turkey and Qatar. He maintained diplomatic relations with various Palestinian factions and international leaders, including those from Turkey and Iran.
Haniyeh joined Hamas in 1987, the year it was founded during the first Palestinian intifada against Israeli occupation. His leadership has been integral to Hamas’s role in the “axis of resistance,” a coalition of Iran-backed armed groups across the Middle East opposing Israel. Iran has made supporting the Palestinian cause a cornerstone of its foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic revolution, celebrating Hamas’s actions but denying direct involvement.
The death of Ismail Haniyeh marks a significant and potentially destabilizing moment in the already volatile Middle Eastern landscape, with reverberations likely to be felt across the region in the days and weeks to come.
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