A senior Hamas leader was killed in a targeted strike in Tehran. According to a statement by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Ismail Haniyeh, a chief of Hamas, was killed while attending the inauguration ceremony of Iran's new president. The statement said that Haniyeh and a security guard were killed in a targeted attack at their home.
No one immediately took responsibility for the assassination, but suspicion quickly fell on Israel. Israel has vowed to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders following the group's October 7 attack on Israel, resulting in 1,200 deaths and around 250 people being taken hostage. Iran's statement did not provide any details on how Haniyeh was killed.
Top Hamas Leader Eliminated
Haniyeh, the head of Hamas' political bureau, was in the capital city for the inauguration of Masoud Pezeshkian as the nation's President. In a statement, Hamas blamed Haniyeh's death on Israeli forces, announcing his death "to the Palestinian people and the Arab nation."
There has been no immediate response from the White House regarding Haniyeh's death, and Israel has also not commented yet.
Earlier this year, at least ten members of Haniyeh's family, including his sister, were killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted their home in the Al-Shati refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.
Photos showed the building reduced to rubble, with rescuers working at the site. The victims were transported to a local hospital, where white body bags were laid out, and grieving mourners were seen gathering.
Killing His Family Members in Targeted Attacks
This attack comes just weeks after Haniyeh lost three sons and four grandchildren in another Israeli airstrike on their car nearby.
Before these tragic events, Haniyeh was believed to have had 13 children. The Qatar-based Hamas leader said at the time that around 60 of his family members had been killed since the war with Israel began on October 7.
Israel is believed to have been conducting a long-term assassination campaign aimed at Iranian nuclear scientists and others linked to its nuclear program.
Since the attack, Israel's war against Hamas has resulted in over 39,360 Palestinian deaths and more than 90,900 injuries, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The apparent assassination occurs at a delicate moment, as the Biden administration has been urging Hamas and Israel to agree to at least a temporary cease-fire and a hostage-release deal.
