Top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has been killed in Iran, Hamas confirmed in a statement released on Wednesday. The group said Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli raid on his residence in Tehran, where he had been attending the inauguration of Iran’s new president.
The news of Haniyeh’s death has sparked outrage among senior Hamas figures, with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and others describing it as an “assassination” and vowing to retaliate. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps stated that the cause of the incident was under investigation.
Haniyeh, 62, was a prominent leader within Hamas and had a long history with the group. He was appointed as Palestinian prime minister in 2006 but was dismissed a year later after Hamas ousted Fatah from the Gaza Strip in a week of deadly violence. Despite his dismissal, Haniyeh continued to rule in Gaza and was elected head of Hamas’s political bureau in 2017.
The US Department of State had designated Haniyeh as a terrorist in 2018, and he had been living in Qatar for the past several years. Hamas has vowed to continue its path despite the loss of Haniyeh and has condemned his assassination as a “grave escalation” by the Israeli occupation. Israel has yet to respond to the allegations.
The death of Ismail Haniyeh marks a significant loss for Hamas and the Palestinian cause, and the repercussions of his assassination are likely to be felt throughout the region.
