Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas was killed in an Israeli strike in Iran, where he had been attending the inauguration of the country’s new president.
A statement by Hamas on Wednesday disclosed that Haniyeh’s death followed an Israeli strike on Tuesday targeting a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut.
The strike killed a senior commander of the Iran-backed group, whom Israel accused of being responsible for a recent rocket attack on the Israel-annexed 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 said in a statement.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards also confirmed Haniyeh’s death, stating that his residence in Tehran was “hit” in the strike, resulting in his death along with that of 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,” said a statement by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Sepah news website.
The Guards stated that the exact cause of the incident is not yet clear but is “being investigated.”
Haniyeh had traveled to Tehran to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday.
The Israeli army has declined to comment on reports from foreign media.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to dismantle Hamas and recover all hostages taken during the October 7 attack, which triggered the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
The attack 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 captured 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 39 whom the military believes are deceased.
Israel’s retaliatory military actions in Gaza have killed at least 39,400 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory, though the breakdown of civilian and militant casualties is not specified.
Regional tensions have significantly escalated since the Israel-Hamas war began in October, involving Iran-backed militant groups in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen.
Haniyeh, who became the head of Hamas’s political bureau in 2017, succeeding Khaled Meshaal, was a prominent figure in Palestinian politics. He became Palestinian prime minister in 2006 after Hamas’s unexpected victory in that year’s parliamentary elections. Known as a pragmatist, Haniyeh lived in exile, dividing his time between Turkey and Qatar, and maintained diplomatic ties with various leaders, including those from Turkey and Iran, during the conflict.
Haniyeh was also known for his relationships with leaders of various Palestinian factions, including rivals of Hamas. He joined Hamas in 1987, the year the group was founded during the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation.
Hamas is part of the “axis of resistance,” a network of Tehran-aligned groups, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, united against Israel. Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iran has made support for the Palestinian cause a cornerstone of its foreign policy, hailing Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel while denying direct involvement.
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