Hamas’ political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed early Wednesday in the capital of Iran, the Palestinian militant group announced.
Haniyeh, 62, was assassinated in Tehran after he attended the inauguration ceremony for Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Hamas said.
Haniyeh “died as a result of a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran,” it said in a statement on Telegram.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed that Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards had been killed in a strike on their residence and said it was investigating, Iranian state media reported.
There was no immediate comment from Israeli authorities, but Haniyeh’s death was welcomed by senior government official Amihai Eliyahu, who said in a post on X that it “makes the world a little better.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who is visiting the Philippines, told reporters he was aware of the reports but had no additional information to provide.
The hunt for Hamas’ leadership has been ongoing since the group’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel from the neighboring Gaza Strip, which killed 1,200 people and resulted in the kidnappings of about 250 others. In April, three of Haniyeh’s sons were killed in an airstrike in the Palestinian enclave.
Wednesday’s attack on Haniyeh builds on a years-long proxy war between Iran and Israel and comes at a delicate time for the region amid concerns that the Israel-Hamas war will spread beyond Gaza. The conflict has already drawn in other militant groups backed by Iran such as the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which has been attacking Israel from the north, and Yemen’s Houthi rebels, which have been attacking ships in the Red Sea.
Haniyeh had made announcements about the progress of cease-fire agreements in the past, and it is unclear how his death might affect efforts to pause the fighting in Gaza, where almost 40,000 Palestinians have been killed, and secure the release of hostages still held by Hamas.
The strike came a day after the Israeli military said it had killed a Hezbollah leader, Fuad Shukr, in a suburb of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, that is known to be the home of Hezbollah’s headquarters. The Israel Defense Forces said Shukr was the commander responsible for an attack last week in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights that killed 12 people, mostly children and teenagers.
Haniyeh’s killing was condemned by officials from Hamas and other militant groups.
“Assassinating Ismail Haniyeh is a cowardly act and will not go unpunished,” Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk said on Al Arabiya TV.
It was also denounced by senior Palestinian official Hussein al-Sheikh, who said in a post on X, “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.”
The chief of Israeli’s Mossad intelligence agency had vowed to kill Haniyeh after the Oct. 7 terrorist attack, and his sons had been among the most high-profile figures to have been killed during the ensuing war with Hamas. Haniyeh said after their deaths that Hamas would not cave under Israeli pressure.
While Haniyeh, who left Gaza in 2019, was Hamas’ top political leader, another senior Hamas official, Yahya Sinwar, remains at large in the enclave. Sinwar has been described as a “dead man walking” by Israel’s military and is considered to be the mastermind of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack.
Though Israel has not confirmed responsibility for Haniyeh’s death, it is likely to further escalate tensions with Iran, which sent hundreds of rockets and drones toward Israel in April in retaliation for an airstrike on its embassy in Damascus, Syria, that killed two of its top commanders.
Although the rockets were intercepted by Israel, the attack was the first direct one between the two countries. Iran, which does not officially recognize Israel’s existence, said at the time that the West should be grateful for its “restraint.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Phil Helsel and Lawahez Jabari contributed.
