Hamas leader killed in suspected Israeli rocket strike

Ismail Haniyeh, political leader of Hamas, has been killed in Tehran, Iran.

Hamas said Haniyeh was assassinated “in a Zionist air strike on his residence in Tehran” after he attended the swearing-in of Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday.

“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 Ismail Haniyeh a martyr,” the militant group said in a statement.

Israel has yet to claim responsibility for the attack.

The Jewish nation had vowed to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders after the Gaza-based group’s October 7 surprise attack on Israel.

Haniyeh’s assassination is the second high-profile death linked to Israel, hours after an air strike targeting a Hezbollah commander hit a building in Beirut, Lebanon’s capital.

Israel said the military commander was killed but Hezbollah denied the claim.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned Haniyeh’s assassination, calling it a “cowardly act and dangerous development”.

Russia and Turkey also condemned the attack.

“Undoubtedly, the pure blood of this noted mujahid who honorably campaigned against the usurper Zionist regime in liberating the holy Quds and freeing the oppressed Palestinian nation from the clutches of Zionist occupiers will never go in vain,” the Iranian foreign ministry said in a statement issued Wednesday.

Abdul Salam, Haniyeh’s son, added that resistance would not end with the assassination of Hamas’ leaders.

In January, Israel killed Saleh al-Arouri, deputy head of the political bureau of Hamas in Beirut, with a drone strike.

Two other Hamas leaders were among the casualties, while several others were injured.