Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have announced that Ismail Haniyeh, a prominent leader of Hamas, was killed in Tehran.
Haniyeh was reportedly in the city to attend Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian’s swear-in ceremony on Tuesday. He was reported to have led the Hamas political operations from exile in Qatar. Iran gave no details on how Haniyeh was killed, and the Guard said the attack was under investigation.
“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, he and one of his bodyguards were martyred,” said a statement by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Sepah news website.
Hamas said in a statement that its leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed at his residence in Tehran in a raid by Israel. The Palestinian group controlling Gaza said Haniyeh was “killed in a treacherous Zionist raid.”
The group said he had participated in the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, on Tuesday. “The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas mourns to our great Palestinian people, to the Arab and Islamic nation, and to all the free people of the world,” it was added.
Iranian state television analysts promptly pointed the finger at Israel. While Israel has not yet commented on the incident, it is known for not acknowledging assassinations conducted by its Mossad intelligence agency.
The country had previously vowed to target Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders in response to the group’s October 7th attack on Israel, which resulted in 1,200 deaths and the abduction of around 250 individuals.
On Tuesday, Israel launched airstrikes targeting Hezbollah officials in Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon.
In yet another significant and dramatic escalation of Middle Eastern tensions, Israeli airstrikes targeted parts of southern Beirut, areas believed to be chosen because of potential links to the Islamic group Hezbollah.
Who was the Hamas leader?
Ismail Haniyeh is widely considered Hamas’ overall leader and has been a prominent member of the movement since 1980.
The 62-year-old was born in a refugee camp near Gaza City and joined Hamas during the First Intifada, or uprising.
He briefly served as Palestinian prime minister—appointed in 2006—but was dismissed a year later after Hamas ousted the rival Fatah Party from the Gaza Strip in a week of deadly violence.
He was elected head of Hamas’ political bureau in 2017, and the US Department of State designated him a terrorist in 2018.
He has lived in Qatar for the past several years.
In January 2024, Israel assassinated the deputy leader of Hamas Saleh al-Arouri by a drone strike in Beirut.
Arouri, 57, was the first senior Hamas political leader to be assassinated since Israel launched an air and ground offensive against Gaza’s Hamas.
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