Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh killed in Iran

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was on Wednesday killed in Tehran after he had attended the swearing-in of the new Iranian President, with the Gaza-based militant group alleging that he was killed in an “Israeli attack”.

Haniyeh, 62, was the head of the political bureau of Hamas, which has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007. He lived in Qatar and had travelled to Tehran to participate in the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday. Official photos showed him among the world leaders who attended the swearing-in ceremony.

Hamas said in a statement that Haniyeh was “killed in an Israeli attack on his location in Tehran, after attending the ceremony of the new Iranian president”. No further details were provided.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement, which was cited by the country’s state-run media, that Haniyeh was killed along with a bodyguard when his residence in Tehran “was hit”.

“With condolences to the heroic nation of Palestine and the Islamic nation and the combatants of the Resistance Front and the noble nation of Iran, this morning (Wednesday) the residence of Dr Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political office of the Islamic Resistance of Hamas, was hit in Tehran, and following this incident, he and one of his bodyguards were martyred,” the statement said.

Hamas was the second leader of an Iran-linked group to be killed since Tuesday, after top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr was killed in an Israeli air strike in Beirut. Shukr had been one of Hezbollah’s leading military figures since it was established by the IRGC more than four decades ago.

The killings of Haniyeh and Shukr have the potential to lead to escalation of the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza, especially given the Israeli links to both deaths, experts said.

The Israeli military claimed Shukr was the commander responsible for a rocket attack that killed 12 youngsters in a football ground in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday. Hezbollah has denied any role in that attack.

Israel’s planned retaliation for the attack on Golan Heights had triggered fears of escalation of the conflict that could drag more militant groups and Iran into the fighting and stall the delicate negotiations being spearheaded by the US for a ceasefire in Gaza.

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