Hamas’ political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated at his residence in the suburb of Tehran on Wednesday, a day after he attended the inauguration of Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran.
The assassination comes less than a day after Israel attempted to kill the most senior military commander of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in a targeted strike in Beirut which killed three people, including two children and wounded 74 others. The fate of the Hezbollah leader is unknown.
Israel said the strike in Beirut was in retaliation for an attack on Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on July 27, which killed 12 people – for which Hezbollah issued a rare denial of any responsibility.
Hamas confirmed Ismail Haniyeh’s death in a statement that said: "the head of the movement died in a Zionist strike on his residence in Tehran.”
How was he killed?
Initially it was reported that the Hamas leader was killed in a raid, which immediately put spotlight on the past hit-and-run assassinations carried out by Israel on the Iranian soil where Tel Aviv has used infiltrators and local assets.
But the Iranian media later said that Haniyeh was killed by an "airborne guided projectile" that targeted his residence in northern Tehran.
"Further investigations are underway to determine the details of this terrorist operation,” Iran's Nournews agency stated.
A setback for peace talks
Haniyeh, normally based in Qatar, has been the face of the Palestinian resistance group's international diplomacy since Israel attacked Palestinian enclave of Gaza on October 7.
He was also playing a central role in talks between Hamas and Israel that are being mediated by international actors to end the war in which Israel has killed more than 39,000 people.
More than 100 Israeli hostages are still being held by Hamas and other Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced domestic protests and international pressure to secure their release through a negotiated settlement. But Netanyahu’s far-right government has pushed ahead with the bloody war.
A few months back, the Israeli military killed three of Haniyeh’s sons and four of his grandchildren in Gaza. The Hamas leader at the time said that in total about 60 members of his family had been killed since October 7.
The head of Hamas' political wing and a former Palestinian prime minister, Haniyeh was born in 1963 in Gaza's Al-Shati refugee camp to a family that had to flee Ashkelon, several kilometres north of the territory, during the creation of Israel 15 years earlier.
In his youth he was a member of the student branch of the Muslim Brotherhood at the Islamic University of Gaza, and joined Hamas in 1987 when the group was founded after the outbreak of the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation, which lasted until 1993.
During that time Haniyeh was imprisoned by Israel several times and then expelled to south Lebanon for six months.
Haniyeh was elected to succeed Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, but was already a well-known figure after becoming Palestinian prime minister in 2006 following a Hamas victory in that year's parliamentary election.
Reactions
Following the attack, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said Haniyeh’s “blood will never be wasted”.
Israel did not immediately respond to the airstrike. The country often remains silent regarding assassinations linked to its Mossad intelligence agency.
Its military announced that it was conducting a situational assessment but has not yet released any new security guidelines for civilians.
Asked also if he could confirm details about the killing of Haniyeh, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said: "I don't have any additional information to provide".
"I don't think war is inevitable. I maintain that. I think there's always room and opportunities for diplomacy,” Austin stated.
Asked what assistance the United States would provide if a wider conflict should break out in the Middle East, Austin said Washington would continue to help defend Israel if it were attacked, but the priority was de-escalating tensions.
"We certainly will help defend Israel. You saw us do that April. You can expect to see us do that again," he said.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said the assassination “is a grave escalation that aims to break the will of Hamas,” noting that the resistance group would continue the path it was following.
"We are confident of victory," Zuhri said.
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