Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were killed in Iran yesterday, the Palestinian group announced today.
Hamas stated that Haniyeh was killed in “a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran” on Tuesday morning. An investigation is underway to uncover more details about the attack.
Haniyeh was in the Iranian capital to attend the swearing-in of Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian. “Brother, leader, mujahid Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the movement, died in a Zionist strike on his headquarters in Tehran after he participated in the inauguration of the new (Iranian) president,” the statement read.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards also confirmed his death, stating that Haniyeh’s residence in Tehran was “hit” and that he was killed along with a bodyguard.
The Israeli army did not immediately respond to Haniyeh’s killing. Israel had vowed to kill Ismail Haniyeh and destroy the Hamas group after the October 7 attack that resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians.
Haniyeh, who was elected head of the Hamas political bureau in 2017, succeeding Khaled Meshaal, was considered a pragmatist. He lived in exile, splitting his time between Turkey and Qatar. During the war, he had traveled on diplomatic missions to Iran and Turkey, meeting both the Turkish and Iranian presidents.
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