Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh speaks during his meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year]
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran after attending the inauguration of the country’s new president, Iran and the militant group said early Wednesday.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the assassination but suspicion quickly fell on Israel, which has vowed to kill Haniyeh and other leaders of Hamas over the group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw some 250 others taken hostage.
Israel will not change its guidelines for civilians
The Israeli military says it is not changing its preparedness guidelines for civilians, such as staying close to a bomb shelter, following reports that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed.
Israel has not commented directly on the assassination, nor claimed responsibility for it.
Senior Palestinian official denounces Haniyeh’s killing
A senior Palestinian official in the West Bank has condemned Haniyeh’s assassination as a “cowardly act.”
“We strongly denounce and condemn the assassination of the head of the Political Bureau, the national leader, Ismail Haniyeh,” Hussein al-Sheikh, the Palestinian Authority’s civil affairs chief, wrote on X. “We consider it a cowardly act, this pushes us to remain more steadfast in the face of the occupation, and the necessity of achieving the unity of the Palestinian forces and factions.”
Haniyeh was one of the Hamas leaders that a war crimes prosecutor wanted arrested
In May, Haniyeh was among the names listed by the chief prosecutor of the world’s top war crimes court seeking arrest warrants over actions taken during the Israel-Hamas war.
Karim Khan accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, along with three Hamas leaders — Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh — of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemns Haniyeh’s killing
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during a conference to support Jerusalem at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, on Feb. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)
In the West Bank, the internationally backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned Haniyeh’s killing, calling it a “cowardly act and dangerous development.” Political factions in the occupied territory called for strikes in protest of the killing.
Senior Hamas official says Haniyeh’s assassination will not go unanswered
Palestinian Senior Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk, front, attends the funeral of Saleh Arouri, in Beirut, Lebanon on Jan. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Hamas senior official Moussa Abu Marzouk said that Haniyeh’s assassination will not go unanswered, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported Wednesday. He also called the assassination a cowardly act.
Haniyeh was killed ‘in a Zionist airstrike,’ Hamas statement says
Hamas said in a statement that Haniyeh was killed “in a Zionist airstrike on his residence in Tehran after he participated in the inauguration of Iran’s new president.”
“Hamas declares to the great Palestinian people and the people of the Arab and Islamic nations and all the free people of the world, brother leader Ismail Haniyeh a martyr,” the short statement read.
3 of Haniyeh’s sons and 4 of his grandchildren were killed in an Israeli airstrike in April
In April, an Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed three of Haniyeh’s sons and four of his grandchildren.
In an interview with the Al Jazeera satellite channel at the time, Haniyeh said the killings would not pressure Hamas into softening its positions amid ongoing cease-fire negotiations with Israel. He said Israel was acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.”
Apparent assassination of Hamas leader comes at a precarious time for Biden
Haniyeh’s apparent assassination comes at a precarious time, as United States President Joe Biden’s administration has tried to push Hamas and Israel to agree to at least a temporary cease-fire and hostage release deal.
CIA Director Bill Burns was in Rome on Sunday to meet with senior officials from Israel, Qatar and Egypt in the latest round of talks. Separately, Brett McGurk, the White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, is in the region for talks with U.S. partners.
There was no immediate reaction to the reports of Haniyeh’s assassination from the White House.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran, Iran says
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said early Wednesday.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the assassination but suspicion quickly fell on Israel, which has vowed to kill Haniyeh and other leaders of Hamas over the group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw some 250 others taken hostage.
Haniyeh was in Tehran to attend Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday. Iran gave no details on how Haniyeh was killed, and the Guard said the attack was under investigation.
Haniyeh left the Gaza Strip in 2019 and had lived in exile in Qatar. The top Hamas leader in Gaza is Yahya Sinwar, who masterminded the Oct. 7 attack.
Israel itself did not immediately comment but it often doesn’t when it comes to assassinations carried out by their Mossad intelligence agency.