Hamas announced on Wednesday that their chief leader, Ismail Haniyeh, has been killed in Tehran, Iran, hours after he praised Iran’s support for the militant group. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed the incident in a statement. Hamas described Haniyeh’s death as the result of ‘a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran.’
The IRGC statement read: ‘With condolences to the heroic nation of Palestine and the Islamic nation and the combatants of the Resistance Front and the noble nation of Iran, this morning [Wednesday] the residence of Mr. Dr. Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political office of the Islamic Resistance of Hamas, was hit in Tehran, and following this incident, he and one of his bodyguards were martyred.’
Ismail Haniyeh was last seen attending the inauguration ceremony of Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian and meeting with Iran’s Supreme Leader, hours before being killed in an attack on his residence in Tehran. The militant group and Haniyeh’s brother have blamed Israel for the raid. ‘Haniyeh was killed hours after praising Iran’s support for Hamas,’ said a Hamas spokesperson. ‘The cowardly assassination of Haniyeh won’t go unanswered,’ Hamas vowed.
The militant outfit has vowed that the ‘cowardly assassination’ of Haniyeh will not go unanswered. Although no group or individual has claimed responsibility for the assassination, suspicions are directed towards Israel, which had previously threatened to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders in retaliation for the group’s October 7 attack on Israel that resulted in 1,200 deaths and approximately 250 hostages taken.
