Hamas leader Ismail Haniya was killed in the Iranian capital Tehran. The militant Palestinian group announced this. It spoke of a “Zionist” attack – meaning Israel. There was no immediate statement from the Israeli side.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard confirmed the death of Haniya. The residence of the head of the Hamas political bureau in Tehran was attacked, the Revolutionary Guard’s website, Sepah News, said on Wednesday. Haniya and one of his bodyguards were killed. Investigations have been launched into the background of the attack.
Haniya attended the swearing-in of the new Iranian president
Haniya was born in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip in 1963. In 2006, he won the last elections in the Palestinian territories as Hamas’ top candidate. He ruled the Gaza Strip until 2017. He then became head of the organization’s political bureau and moved his headquarters to Qatar. Haniya was in Iran this week because he attended the swearing-in of the new Iranian president, Massoud Peseschkian.
News of Haniya’s killing came hours after an Israeli airstrike on a suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut. According to the Israeli army, Fuad Shukr, a senior commander of the Shiite militia Hezbollah, was killed. Hezbollah is allied with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, both of which are in turn allied with Israel’s arch-enemy Iran.
Since the terrorist attack by Hamas and other groups on Israel on October 7, Hezbollah has been attacking targets in northern Israel in solidarity with Hamas. It will not stop its attacks until a ceasefire is reached in Gaza.
