Hamas Political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Iran’s Tehran, in an Israeli attack.
According to Iranian media, an air strike hit a building for war veterans in Tehran where Haniyeh was staying at around 02:00 (22:30 GMT).
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A Hamas statement posted on the militant group’s Telegram channel said Haniyeh was killed at a residence in the Iranian capital. According to Hamas, Haniyeh was in Tehran to take part in the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who was sworn in on Tuesday.
Earlier, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said he had been targeted in his residence along with an Iranian bodyguard. It said he had been in Iran to attend the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian. It said it was investigating the circumstances of the “incident”.
Ismail Haniyeh was the exiled political chief of the group and had spent much of his time in recent years in Qatar. During the Israel-Gaza war he had acted as a negotiator in the ceasefire talks and liased with Hamas’s main ally, Iran.
Israel has yet to make any comment on Ismail Haniyeh’s killing but in its statement Hamas accused it of responsibility.
Earlier, the Israeli regime claimed in a statement that it carried out “a targeted strike” on Tuesday against the Hezbollah commander the regime accuses of being behind a rocket explosion in Majdal Shams at the weekend.
Lebanese media said the strike targeted an area in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of the capital Beirut. They also said that the attack hit a residential building, razing it to the ground and causing damage to an adjacent hospital.
The targeted area is said to be crowded, with a number of people getting injured.
According to Hamas, Haniyeh was in Tehran to take part in the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who was sworn in on Tuesday.
His death could now delay efforts to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza, as he was a critical interlocutor in the negotiations brokered by Qatar, the US and Egypt.
Several countries, including Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan, Russia and Qatar have condemned the attack. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the assassination was “something we were not aware of or involved in”.
Hamas’s armed wing said Haniyeh’s death would “take the battle to new dimensions” and have major repercussions.
Iran’s leader Ayatollah Khamenei has vowed “harsh punishment” against Israel and has declared three days of national mourning.
