NEW DELHI: Top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were assassinated in Tehran, Iran on Wednesday. According to a statement from Hamas, an “Israeli strike” was responsible for the death of Haniyeh, who held the position of political bureau chief for the organization.
“Brother, leader, mujahid Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the movement, died in a Zionist strike on his headquarters in Tehran after he participated in the inauguration of the new (Iranian) president,” the Hamas statement declared.
Iranian officials confirmed that Haniyeh’s Tehran residence had been targeted, with an investigation into the incident currently underway. Haniyeh was in Tehran to participate in the inauguration of president-elect Mazoud Pezeshkian on July 30 and had later met with both the newly elected leader and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
ALSO READ: Vikas Divyakirti’s Drishti IAS faces major by-law violations at Nehru Vihar Branch
“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,” stated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Sepah news website. The IRGC extended their condolences to the people of Palestine, the Muslim world, and the Resistance Front’s fighters over Haniyeh’s demise.
The assassination of the high-profile Hamas leader comes amid escalating fears of conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, particularly after a rocket attack on the Golan Heights on Tuesday. In response, Israel targeted Hezbollah’s stronghold in southern Beirut, claiming to have killed Fuad Shukr, the commander allegedly behind the attack.