Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Iran after attending the inauguration of the nation’s new president, according to announcements from Iran and the militant organization early Wednesday.
Hamas accused Israel of conducting an airstrike that led to the death of the head of the group’s political wing. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard stated it was probing the incident without specifying the attack’s nature.
Israel has previously pledged to eliminate Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders following the group’s October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in 1,200 deaths and approximately 250 hostages taken.
An Israeli military spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Israel typically refrains from commenting on assassinations attributed to its Mossad intelligence agency.
Hamas claimed that Haniyeh was killed “in a Zionist airstrike on his residence in Tehran” following his attendance at the swearing-in of Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday, alongside other Hamas and Hezbollah officials.
“Hamas announces to the Palestinian people, the Arab and Islamic nations, and all the free people of the world, that brother leader Ismail Haniyeh has been martyred,” the group stated succinctly.
In a separate statement, Haniyeh was quoted as asserting that the Palestinian cause entails “costs” and that “we are prepared for these costs: martyrdom for Palestine, for God Almighty, and for the dignity of this nation.”
Hamas representatives did not immediately offer additional comments.
In the West Bank, the internationally recognized Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas denounced Haniyeh’s assassination, labeling it a “cowardly act and dangerous escalation.” Political factions in the occupied territory called for strikes in protest.
Haniyeh had left Gaza in 2019 and resided in exile in Qatar. The top Hamas leader in Gaza, Yehya Sinwar, orchestrated the October 7 attack.
In April, an Israeli airstrike in Gaza resulted in the deaths of three of Haniyeh’s sons and four of his grandchildren.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Haniyeh had asserted that these killings would not coerce Hamas into moderating its stance amid ongoing ceasefire negotiations with Israel.
Haniyeh’s death follows an Israeli strike on Beirut, which Israel claimed killed Fouad Shukur, a senior Hezbollah military commander. Hezbollah has not confirmed Shukur’s death, which also claimed the lives of at least one woman and two children, injuring dozens more.
The strike occurred amidst rising hostilities with Hezbollah. The U.S. holds Shukur responsible for orchestrating the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut.
Simultaneously, Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, an alliance of Iranian-backed militias, reported that a strike on Tuesday night on a base southwest of Baghdad killed four members of the Kataib Hezbollah militia.
The militia accused the U.S. of conducting the strike. Kataib Hezbollah and other militias have recently launched attacks on bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria, retaliating against U.S. support for Israel in the Gaza conflict. U.S. officials did not immediately comment.
The White House has yet to respond to Haniyeh’s assassination. The incident comes at a delicate time as the Biden administration seeks to broker at least a temporary ceasefire and hostage-release agreement between Hamas and Israel.
CIA Director Bill Burns was in Rome on Sunday to meet with senior officials from Israel, Qatar, and Egypt as part of ongoing negotiations. Separately, Brett McGurk, the White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, is in the region for discussions with U.S. allies.
Israel is suspected of conducting a long-term assassination campaign targeting Iranian nuclear scientists and individuals linked to its nuclear program. In 2020, prominent Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed by a remote-controlled machine gun while traveling near Tehran.
Since the October attack, Israel’s war against Hamas has resulted in over 39,360 Palestinian deaths and more than 90,900 injuries, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
