Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas Political Wing Chief, Assassinated At His Tehran Residence: Iran

Top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were killed in an attack in Tehran on Wednesday. A statement by Hamas said an “Israeli strike” killed the Palestinian official, who is the political bureau chief of the outfit.

“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,” read a statement by Hamas.

Iran, meanwhile, said Haniyeh’s residence in Tehran was targeted and an investigation into the attack is underway. He was in Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of president-elect Mazoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday (July 30) and later met the new leader and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“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, him and one of his bodyguards were martyred,” said a statement by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Sepah news website.

The IRGC statement offered condolences to the people of Palestine, the Muslim world, and the Resistance Front’s fighters over the Hamas leader’s death.

The attack on the prominent Hamas leader comes amid concerns of war between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah following a rocket attack on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights on Tuesday. Accusing Hezbollah, Israel struck Hezbollah’s stronghold in southern Beirut in retaliation saying it killed the commander — Fuad Shukr — responsible for the attack.

‘Assassination a grave escalation’

A senior Hamas official said this “assassination by the Israeli occupation” is a “grave escalation” while the Houthi head called it a “heinous terrorist crime”. Hamas further said it will not back down because of this attack, and will continue on its path “regardless of sacrifices” and is “confident of victory”.

“This assassination by the Israeli occupation of Brother Haniyeh is a grave escalation that aims to break the will of Hamas and the will of our people and achieve fake goals. We confirm that this escalation will fail to achieve its objectives,” said senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri.

The official added: “Hamas is a concept and an institution and not persons. Hamas will continue on this path regardless of the sacrifices and we are confident of victory.”

“Targeting Ismail Haniyeh is a heinous terrorist crime and a flagrant violation of laws and ideal values,” said Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi, who is the head of Yemen’s Houthi Supreme Revolutionary Committee.

Tough-talking, but seen as moderate face of Hamas

Haniyeh was a tough-talking leader but seen as the more moderate face of Hamas in the world of international diplomacy. Based out of Turkey and Doha, he was appointed as the political wing chief in 2017 but was already well known after having been elected the Palestinian prime minister in 2006.

Living in exile and because of his movement between Turkey and Doha, he was able to escape the travel curbs of the blockaded Gaza Strip enabling him to act as a negotiator in ceasefire talks or to talk to Hamas ally Iran. “All the agreements of normalisation that you (Arab states) signed with (Israel) will not end this conflict,” Haniyeh had declared on Qatar-based Al Jazeera television shortly after Hamas fighters launched the October 7 raid.

In the military campaign launched by Israel since, which has killed more than 35,000 people inside Gaza, the Hamas leader lost his three sons in an airstrike on April 10 and also lost four of his grandchildren — three girls and a boy.

As the war raged in Gaza, he travelled on diplomatic missions to Iran and Turkey and met both their presidents. He was said to maintain good relations with the heads of the various Palestinian factions, including rivals to Hamas.

A Sunni Muslim, Haniyeh had a major hand in building up the fighting capacity of Hamas partly by nurturing ties with Shi’ite Muslim Iran that makes no secret of its support for the group. Experts called him the diplomatic front of Hamas, leading the political battle for the outfit.

He joined Hamas in 1987 when the militant group was founded amid the outbreak of the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation, which lasted until 1993.

(With agency inputs)