Iranian media confirmed the death of the Hamas leader, who was on a visit to Tehran. Iran has not provided any further details, but the terrorist group claimed that an Israeli strike killed him.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement that Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed along with one of his bodyguards while in Tehran visiting newly inaugurated Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who took office on July 28.
Haniyeh was the victim of an attack in Tehran early Wednesday morning, and an investigation into the incident is underway, according to the IRGC’s Public Relations Department. Hamas has claimed that it was an Israeli raid, although Iranian authorities have not provided any further information on the attack.
Haniyeh, who is also known as “Abu Al-Abd,” was born in one of the Palestinian refugee camps in 1962 and became involved in the Palestinian cause in his youth. In 1989, he was sent to prison by Israel and, after three years behind bars, went into exile in Lebanon, where he strengthened his position in the Hamas movement by becoming close to Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who was then its leader.
In 2006, Hamas appointed Haniyeh as Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), a position he held for only one year before being dismissed by the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. Despite this, Hamas continued to regard him as the de facto leader in the Gaza Strip for several years, until he himself decided to step down from the post in 2014. In 2017, he was finally elected as head of the Hamas Political Bureau.
You may also like:
