South Africa has called for an investigation into the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the political bureau chief of the Palestinian group Hamas.
Hamas and Iran announced on Wednesday morning the assassination of Haniyeh in an Israeli airstrike targeting his residence in Tehran, a day after he attended the inauguration of Iran's new President Masoud Pezeshkian.
In a statement on Thursday, South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) condemned the targeted assassination and called for a "thorough investigation".
'Destabilising effect'
Such assassinations ''violate international law and the principles of human rights, undermining global efforts to promote peace and stability in the Middle East," Minister of International Relations Ronald Lamola said in the statement.
"Any form of extrajudicial killing is a blatant violation of these principles and extra judicial killings of this nature have a destabilising effect. It is crucial that the perpetrators of such actions must be brought to justice," he added.
South Africa described Haniyeh as an integral part of negotiation for a ceasefire in Gaza, where Israel has killed about 40,000 Palestinians since October last year.
South Africa has accused Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee the delivery of humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza.
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