Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in a strike on Wednesday, July 31 in Tehran, the Palestinian Islamist movement announced, blaming Israel, a country with which it has been at war in Gaza for nearly ten months. A senior Hamas official, Taher al-Nounou, said that it was a “direct targeting” of Haniyeh in his residence in the Iranian capital.
Key information:
⇒ Hamas claims its leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in a “Zionist” strike in Tehran
⇒ Iran accuses Israel and vows to make it “regret” its act
⇒ Palestinian President condemns “cowardly assassination”
Iran blames Israel, vows to make it “regret” its actions
China condemns “assassination” of Hamas leader in Iran
China on Wednesday condemned the “assassination” of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in a strike on his residence in Tehran, Iran. “We are very concerned about this incident, we strongly oppose and condemn this assassination,” said a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Lin Jian, during a regular press briefing. China has supported the Palestinian cause for decades.
Call for general strike in Palestinian territories after assassination of Hamas leader
Palestinian movements in the occupied West Bank have called for a general strike in the Palestinian territories a few hours after the announcement of the assassination in Tehran of Ismail Haniyeh. “The Islamist movements of Palestine announce a general strike and angry marches (to protest) against the assassination of the great national leader Ismail Haniyeh, which is part of the terrorism of the Zionist state (Israel, editor’s note) and its war of extermination,” the Palestinian movements said in a joint statement.
“Ismail Haniyeh’s residence was hit in Tehran”
Hamas’ political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, in his sixties, was based in Doha. He had attended the inauguration ceremony of Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian, a reformer, in Tehran on Tuesday.
“(Our) brother, the leader, the mujahid Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the movement, died in a Zionist strike on his residence in Tehran after his participation in the inauguration of the new Iranian president” Massoud Pezeshkian, Hamas wrote in a statement.
The Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Iranian Islamic Republic, announced that “the residence of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas political bureau, was hit in Tehran, and […] He and one of his bodyguards were martyred,” according to a statement on their news website Sepah.
“Haniyeh was in one of the special residences for war veterans in northern Tehran when he was killed by an aerial projectile,” local news agency Fars said. Other media outlets carried the same statement. The Israeli military declined to comment when contacted.
A “cowardly assassination”
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned in a statement the “cowardly assassination” of the Hamas political leader.
Moussa Abou Marzouk, an official in Hamas’ political bureau, said in a statement that this “cowardly act will not go unanswered.”
Haniyeh, head of Hamas’ political bureau since 2017
Ismail Haniyeh, who joined Hamas in 1987, rose to prominence in 2006 when he became prime minister of the Palestinian Authority after his movement’s surprise victory in the legislative elections. He was elected head of Hamas’ political bureau in 2017, succeeding Khaled Meshaal, and was living in self-imposed exile in Qatar. He was elected head of Hamas’ political bureau in 2017, succeeding Khaled Meshaal, and was living in self-imposed exile in Qatar.
In its offensive in Gaza, the Israeli army killed several members of Ismail Haniyeh’s family, including three of his sons and four grandchildren. In early July, the army said there were “increasing signs” that the head of Hamas’s armed wing, Mohammed Deif, had been killed in a strike it carried out in the Gaza Strip. But there has been no confirmation of his death.
Russia denounces “unacceptable political assassination”
Russia condemned the strike. “This is a completely unacceptable political assassination, and it will lead to a further escalation of tensions,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency.
“This is all very bad,” he added. For his part, Konstantin Kosachev, deputy chairman of the Federation Council (the upper house of the Russian parliament), said he now expected a “sharp escalation of mutual hatred in the Middle East.”
Yemeni Houthi rebels condemn “terrorist crime”
A senior Houthi official, who control Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, called the assassination in Tehran of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday “a heinous terrorist crime.” “This is a heinous terrorist crime and a flagrant violation of the law,” Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a member of the political bureau of Ansar Allah, the rebels’ political movement, wrote on X.