Ismail Haniyeh Death: Hamas Leader Killed in Iran Attack
An agreement between Israel and Hamas appears increasingly far from being reached. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an attack in Tehran on Wednesday while on an official visit, according to a statement from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. The attack has been attributed to Israel, although Iranian media say the killing is still being investigated. There is no evidence that it was Tel Aviv, but Haniyeh’s death is a major blow to the Palestinian group that threatens to plunge the region into even greater conflict.
The Hamas leader was in the Iranian capital to attend the inauguration of the newly elected president, Masud Pezeshkian, and had been a key figure in the ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel, which have been stalled for months. In 2017, he was appointed the political leader of the Palestinian group and moved to Qatar. “With condolences to the heroic nation of Palestine, the Islamic nation, the fighters of the Resistance Front, and the noble nation of Iran, this morning (Wednesday), the residence of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of the Islamic resistance of Hamas, was attacked in Tehran, and, following this incident, he and one of his bodyguards were martyred,” said the statement from the Revolutionary Guard.
Hamas said the attack “will not go unpunished” and described it as a “treacherous Zionist” attack. One of its spokesmen, Sami Abu Zuhri, said the escalation “will not achieve its objectives,” referring to Tel Aviv’s operation to wipe out the Palestinian group. Israeli officials have said they do not respond to foreign media inquiries about their alleged involvement in the killing.
Haniyed, 62, had survived an assassination attempt in 2003 when Israel targeted him and his mentor, Hamas founder and spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. The Israeli military assassinated Yassin the following year. In April, three of Haniyeh’s sons were killed in an Israeli strike near Gaza City. Israel identified them as Amir, Mohammad, and Hazem, and said the three were Hamas military operatives. “We will not give up, no matter the sacrifices,” Haniyeh said at the time.
Haniyeh’s death comes just hours after Israel confirmed it had killed Hezbollah military chief Fuad Shukr, the group’s “highest-ranking military chief” and a close adviser to the organization’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, in an attack in Beirut. However, the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah confirmed on Wednesday that its commander, Fuad Sukhr, was in the building bombed by Israel on the outskirts of Beirut but is still unable to provide information on his whereabouts as search efforts continue in the area.
“Civil Protection teams have been working diligently but slowly to remove the debris since the incident occurred. We are still awaiting the outcome of this operation regarding the fate of the great and beloved leader and other citizens,” it said in a statement. If confirmed dead, Shukr would be the third senior Hezbollah commander killed by Israel in just over six weeks, and the highest-ranking casualty since October 7.
Over the years, Israel has blamed Shukr for the deaths of thousands of Israeli civilians, most notably the 12 children killed in a rocket attack on Saturday in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Following the recent attacks, fears of an escalation of the conflict between Tel Aviv and Hezbollah have arisen.
Palestinian leaders condemn the murder.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee Secretary Hussein al-Sheikh condemned the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in an attack blamed on Israel on Wednesday. Abbas, who rules small parts of the occupied West Bank, “strongly condemned the killing of the Hamas leader and called it a cowardly act and a dangerous development,” the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
The president “called on the masses and forces of the Palestinian people to show unity, patience, and firmness in the face of the Israeli occupation,” he added. For his part, Al Sheikh also condemned “the assassination” of Haniyeh, considering it “a cowardly act. “This “calls on us to remain firmer in the face of the occupation and the need to achieve unity among the Palestinian forces and factions,” the PA minister also stressed on social network X.
Hamas, which has been locked in a war with Israel since October 7 last year, confirmed on Wednesday that Haniyeh was killed in an attack attributed to Israel in Tehran, where he was on an official visit to attend the inauguration of the country’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian. For the moment, the Israeli authorities have not claimed responsibility for the attack or confirmed Haniyeh’s death.
On July 23, Hamas and the secular Fatah party led by Abbas signed a statement in Beijing in which they pledged to end the division between the two Palestinian factions that has existed since 2007 and to strengthen unity with other groups. The signatories, including Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), seek with agreement the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem (a goal that the groups have already supported individually) in accordance with UN resolutions, especially 181 and 2334.
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