Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh has been assassinated by Israel in the Iranian capital Tehran.
The Palestinian group said that Haniyeh was killed in “a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has confirmed that Haniyeh was killed alongside one of his bodyguards, Iranian state media reports.
It said the attack is under investigation and the results will be announced later in the day.
The Palestinian resistance leader was in Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of the Iranian president-elect Masoud Pezeshkian.
Hamas pledged to take revenge after Haniyeh was assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran.
“In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful (And do not think that those who are killed in the way of Allah are dead. Rather, they are alive with their Lord, receiving provision.)
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“The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas mourns to our great Palestinian people, to the Arab and Islamic nation, and to all the free people of the world: Brother, leader, martyr, Mujahid Ismail Haniyeh.
“The head of the movement, who was killed in a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran, after participating in the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian president. To Allah we belong and to Him we shall return. And it is a jihad, victory or martyrdom.”
Although there has been no official comment from Israel, Israel’s Minister of Heritage Amichai Eliyahu said the killing of the Hamas leader “makes the world a little better.”
“No mercy for these mortals,” Eliyahu wrote in a post on X. “The iron hand that will strike them, is the one that will bring peace and a little comfort and strengthen our ability to live in peace with those who desire peace,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mousa Abu Marzook, a member of Hamas’ political bureau denounced the assassination as a “cowardly action” that would not go unanswered.
Senior Hamas’ spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri also reacted to the assassination, saying, “We are waging an open war to liberate [the holy occupied city of] al-Quds and are ready to pay any price.”
Other Palestinian groups joined the chorus of condemnation and condolence, while pledging to make the occupying entity pay the price of the assassination.
Maher al-Taher, international relations officer of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), hailed Haniyeh as a leader who made the ultimate sacrifice toward realisation of the Palestinian cause.
“The Israeli enemy crosses all red lines and is pushing things toward a comprehensive war with the entire Resistance Axis,” which is “fully prepared for confrontation,” he stated.
“The enemy … will regret the sin it committed by assassinating Haniyeh and attacking Iranian sovereignty,” the Palestinian official warned.
He noted that the regime would not have been able to commit the atrocity “without American cover,” referring to the unreserved support being provided to Tel Aviv by its biggest ally, the United States.
Islamic Jihad, also based in Gaza, denounced the “sinful assassination” that had targeted “a symbol of the resistance.”
The movement, however, asserted that the atrocity would not deter the Palestinian nation from staying on the path of resistance and keeping up their efforts to put an end to the regime’s crimes that had “exceeded all limits.”
“We affirm our cohesion with our brothers in the Hamas movement in resisting the usurping entity.”
Mohammad al-Hindi, the Islamic Jihad’s deputy secretary general, also described Haniyeh’s assassination as a “great loss” for the Palestinian nation, but insisted that the Israeli enemy was “completely mistaken” if it thought it could defeat the resistance by taking out its leaders.
Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, echoed the condemnations, describing the assassinations as a “cowardly action” and a “dangerous development.”
Various Palestinian groups, meanwhile, called for sweeping protests and a general strike across the occupied Palestinian territories in condemnation of the assassination.
International reaction
The Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned the “heinous” assassination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh.
“We extend our condolences to the Palestinian people who have sacrificed hundreds of thousands of martyrs like Haniyeh in order to live in peace in their homeland under the roof of their own state,” the statement said.
Haniyeh’s assassination once again demonstrates that the Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has no intention of achieving peace, the statement said.
The ministry also warned that the region will face much larger conflicts if the international community does not take action to stop Israel.
“Türkiye will continue to support the just cause of the Palestinian people,” the statement added.
Haniyeh’s assassination aims to expand the conflict beyond Gaza to a regional scale, it stated.
ussia slams Hamas political bureau chief Haniyeh’s assassination, calling it ‘unacceptable political murder’
Russia on Wednesday also condemned the assassination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, calling it an “unacceptable political murder” that will exacerbate regional tension.
“This is all very bad. This is an absolutely unacceptable political murder, and it will lead to further escalation of tensions,” Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told Russia’s state-run news agency, RIA Novosti.
What happened will have a significant negative impact on the Doha negotiations, Bogdanov warned.
General strike in West Bank
Palestinian national and Islamic forces declared Wednesday a general strike and called for “anger demonstrations” in response to the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political bureau of Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.
“The assassination of the great national leader Ismail Haniyeh is part of the Zionist state’s terrorism and its war of extermination, destruction, and killing, amidst the international community’s failure to stop the war and hold the occupier accountable for its crimes,” said the Palestinian forces in a statement.
Mourning the Palestinian leader, the forces affirmed that “this cowardly assassination will not break our people’s will to resist and endure, but will increase our determination and insistence to continue holding on to our rights, constants, struggle, and resistance for freedom and independence.”
The strike covers all cities and towns in the West Bank, and Haniyeh was mourned via loudspeakers in many mosques across the West Bank, Anadolu correspondent reported.
Who was Ismail Haniyeh?
Haniyeh was born at Gaza’s al-Shati refugee camp in 1962 and joined the First Intifada (Uprising) against Israel in 1987, upon graduation from the Islamic University in Gaza.
The anti-occupation activism prompted Israeli officials to jail him for a short period that year and he was imprisoned again for six months in 1988, and again for three years a year later.
Haniyeh spent a year in exile in Lebanon following release, but returned to Gaza afterwards.
In the 1990s, he climbed the ranks within the movement as a close aide and assistant of Hamas’ co-founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
In 2000s, Haniyeh consolidated his position as one of Hamas’ political leaders.
As leader of Hamas, he reversed the Fatah movement’s reign in Gaza 2006, when the resistance group scored a landslide victory in the Palestinian legislative elections.
Haniyeh then served as the Palestinian Authority’s Prime Minister until 2014, when he was dismissed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
He replaced Khaled Mashaal as Hamas’ politburo chief on May 6, 2017.
