IRIA News

Prominent Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) confirmed early July 31, 2024. Hamas and Iran immediately accused Israel of orchestrating the attack.

Haniyeh was killed “in a Zionist airstrike on his residence in Tehran after he participated in the inauguration of Iran’s new president,” as stated by Hamas.

“Hamas declares to the great Palestinian people and the people of the Arab and Islamic nations and all the free people of the world, brother leader Ismail Haniyeh a martyr,” the group said in its initial statement about the killing of its leaders. Further comments from Hamas officials were not immediately available.

Haniyeh’s death follows Israel’s vow to eliminate Hamas leadership in response to the group’s October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,200 people and the taking of approximately 250 hostages.

Haniyeh was in Tehran for the inauguration ceremony of Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on July 30. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard provided no details on the method of the assassination, only stating that the incident was under investigation. Analysts on Iranian state television have already begun attributing the attack to Israel.

Top Hamas leader Ismael Haniyeh assassinated in Tehran hours after attending the inauguration of Iran’s new president.

Hamas said Haniyeh was killed alongside his bodyguard in an Israeli raid on his residence. pic.twitter.com/7uQQl6zdWe

— IRIA (@IRIA_Research) July 31, 2024

Haniyeh’s death came hours after Israel claimed it killed Hezbollah’s top military commander, Fuad Shukr, in an airstrike on a south Beirut suburb. Hezbollah later confirmed the commander’s death. This strike, which also resulted in civilian casualties, was part of escalating hostilities with Hezbollah. The U.S. attributes the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut to Shukr.

The assassination of Haniyeh comes at a delicate time as the Biden administration attempts to mediate a cease-fire and hostage-release agreement between Hamas and Israel. CIA Director Bill Burns and Brett McGurk, the White House Coordinator for the Middle East, and North Africa, have been conducting talks with regional partners to this end.

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of Yemen’s Houthi Supreme Revolutionary Committee, stated that “Targeting Ismail Haniyeh is a heinous terrorist crime and a flagrant violation of laws and ideal values.”.

A senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, said “This assassination by the Israeli occupation of Brother Haniyeh is a grave escalation that aims to break the will of Hamas and the will of our people and achieve fake goals. We confirm that this escalation will fail to achieve its objectives.”

“Hamas is a concept and an institution and not a person. Hamas will continue on this path regardless of the sacrifices and we are confident of victory,” Zuhri added.

Israel has a history of targeted assassinations, particularly against individuals linked to Iran’s nuclear program. In 2020, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a leading Iranian nuclear scientist, was killed in an attack widely attributed to Israel.

The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas has resulted in over 39,360 Palestinian deaths and more than 90,900 injuries since October, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The casualty figures include both civilians and combatants.

62-year-old Haniyeh has been living in exile in Qatar since 2019. Yahya Sinwar, another Hamas leader who orchestrated the October 7 attack, had been handling the group’s leadership in Gaza. In April, an Israeli airstrike in Gaza resulted in the deaths of three of Haniyeh’s sons and four of his grandchildren. At the time, Haniyeh declared that such actions would not pressure Hamas into softening its stance during cease-fire negotiations with Israel.

Ismail Haniyeh played a significant role in Hamas since the late 1980s. He was imprisoned by Israel in 1989 during the first Palestinian uprising and exiled to a no-man’s-land between Israel and Lebanon in 1992.

Haniyeh was appointed Palestinian Prime Minister in 2006 but was dismissed in 2007 after Hamas ousted Fatah from the Gaza Strip. Despite his dismissal, Haniyeh continued to rule in Gaza and was elected head of Hamas’s political bureau in 2017. In 2018, the U.S. Department of State designated him as a terrorist. He had resided in Qatar for several years before his assassination.