Tehran, July 31, 2024 – Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyen has been killed in the Iranian capital Tehran, according to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps and Hamas on Wednesday, a major escalation that deepens fears of an all-out war in the Middle East.
Haniyeh is the second leader of an Iran-backed militant group reported to have been assassinated in recent days. His death represents a significant blow to Hamas, eliminating its most public figure who headed up the group’s political operations while living overseas.
In a statement, Hamas accused Israel of targeting Haniyeh and his bodyguard in a “strike” on his residence in Tehran, following his participation in Tuesday’s inauguration of the new Iranian president.
Israel’s military said it does not respond to reports in foreign media, thou though senior officials have previously vowed to eliminate Hamas and its leadership in response to the group’s October 7 attack on Israel. It later said it was “conducting a situational assessment.”
In contrast, Israel did confirm it carried out a strike in Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday that killed Hezbollah’s most senior military commander, who it blamed for a deadly attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The assassination of Fu’ad Shukr was the most serious Israel escalation since confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel began on October 8.
It is not clear precisely when Haniyeh, a key interlocutor with Egyptian and Qatari mediators on the ongoing hostage and ceasefire talks in Gaza, was killed. The new Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian was sworn in on Tuesday and Hamas released pictures the same day of Haniyeh meeting Iranian officials in Tehran.
The killing comes at an especially fraught time for the Middle East, with escalating confrontations between Israel and Hezbollah threatening to expand into a wider regional war and as Hamas continues to battle Israel’s military in Gaza amid an unfolding and catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
Musa Abu Marzouk, a member of Hamas’ Political Bureau, said Haniyeh’s death would “not pass in vain,” while senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri called it a “grave escalation.”
The White House said it has seen the reports of Haniyeh’s death but declined to immediately comment further, according to a spokesperson. While traveling in the Philippines, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he does not think war in the Middle East is inevitable, but if Israel were to be attacked the US would help defend it.
Haniyeh would be the second Hamas senior leader to be killed since the beginning of Israel’s war in Gaza. In January, the group said its deputy head of the political bureau Saleh Al Arouri was Killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Lebanese capital Beirut. Arouri was considered one of the founding members of the Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
