Hamas yesterday said its political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli strike in Iran, where he was attending the swearing-in of the new Iranian president, and vowed the act “will not go unanswered.”
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatened “harsh punishment” for Haniyeh’s killing, saying: “We consider it our duty to seek revenge for his blood as he was martyred in the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in a statement later said: “The Zionists will soon see the consequences of their cowardly and terrorist act.”
Photo: AP
“Such measures are a sign that the policies of the Zionist regime have reached a dead end,” he added.
Israel declined to comment on the Tehran strike, which came after it struck a Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut on Tuesday, targeting a senior commander of the Lebanese militant group it blamed for a deadly weekend rocket strike on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.
Qatar, which has been spearheading efforts with Egypt and the US to broker a ceasefire in Gaza, said the killing of Haniyeh, Hamas’ lead negotiator, threw the whole process into doubt.
“Brother leader, mujahid Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the movement, died in a Zionist strike on his residence in Tehran after he participated in the inauguration of the new [Iranian] president,” the Palestinian militant group said in a statement.
Hamas political bureau member Musa Abu Marzuk vowed the group would retaliate.
“The assassination of leader Ismail Haniyeh is a cowardly act and will not go unanswered,” he said.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards also announced the death, saying Haniyeh’s residence in Tehran was hit and he was killed along with a bodyguard.
Iranian media said the 2am strike targeted “the special residences for war veterans in north Tehran” where Haniyeh was staying.
Haniyeh had traveled to Tehran to attend Tuesday’s swearing-in of Pezeshkian.
The Iranian government declared three days of national mourning following the news of the killing.
An “official and public” funeral ceremony for Haniyeh would be held in Tehran today before his body is flown to Qatar, his base in recent years, for burial tomorrow, Hamas said.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned Haniyeh’s killing as a “cowardly act.”
Palestinian factions in the Israeli-occupied West Bank called for a general strike and protest marches across the territory.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas in retaliation for its Oct. 7 attacks on Israel last year, which sparked the war in Gaza.
The attacks resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign against Hamas has killed at least 39,445 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which does not provide details on civilian and militant deaths.
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