Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran

Tehran: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the early hours of the morning in Iran, the terrorist group said on Wednesday, drawing fears of a wider escalation in a region shaken by Israel’s war in Gaza and a worsening conflict in Lebanon.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed the death of Haniyeh, hours after he attended the swearing-in ceremony for the country’s new president, and said it was investigating. He was assassinated at 2am (8.30am AEST), Iranian media reported, adding he was staying in “a special residence for war veterans in north Tehran”.

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, centre, flashes a victory sign as he is surrounded by a group of Iranian MPs at the conclusion of the swearing-in ceremony of newly-elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday.Credit: AP

There was no immediate comment from Israel. The Israeli military said it was conducting a situational assessment but had not issued any new security guidelines for civilians.

Hamas said Haniyeh had been killed “in a Zionist airstrike on his residence in Tehran after he participated in the inauguration of Iran’s new president”.

“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 terse statement said.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said Washington would work to try to ease tensions but said the United States would help defend Israel if it were attacked. Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov described the killing as “absolutely unacceptable political murder” and warned it would lead to “further escalation of tensions”.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has been assassinated in Tehran.Credit: AP

The news, which came less than 24 hours after Israel claimed to have killed the Hezbollah commander it said was behind a deadly strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, appears to set back chances of any imminent ceasefire agreement in Gaza.

“This assassination by the Israeli occupation of Brother Haniyeh is a grave escalation that aims to break the will of Hamas,” senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said.

He said Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that ruled Gaza, would continue the path it was following, adding: “We are confident of victory.”

Iran’s top security body is expected to meet to decide Iran’s strategy in reaction to the death of Haniyeh, a close ally of Tehran, said a source with knowledge of the meeting.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the killing of Haniyeh and Palestinian factions in the occupied West Bank called for a general strike and mass demonstrations.

Haniyeh, normally based in Qatar, has been the face of the Palestinian group’s international diplomacy as the war set off by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7 has raged in Gaza, where three of his sons were killed in an Israeli airstrike.

The International Criminal Court prosecutor’s office requested an arrest warrant for him over alleged war crimes at the same time it issued a similar request against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Appointed to the Hamas top job in 2017, Haniyeh has moved between Turkey and Qatar’s capital Doha, escaping the travel curbs of the blockaded Gaza Strip and enabling him to act as a negotiator in ceasefire talks or to talk to Hamas’ ally Iran.

The assassination of Haniyeh comes as Israel’s campaign in Gaza approaches the end of its 10th month with no sign of an end to a conflict that has shaken the Middle East and threatened to spiral into a wider regional conflict.

Despite anger at Netanyahu’s government from families of the Israeli hostages still held in Gaza and mounting international pressure for a ceasefire, talks brokered by Egypt and Qatar appear to have faltered.

At the same time, the risk of a war between Israel and Hezbollah has grown following the strike in the Golan Heights that killed 12 children in a Druze village on Saturday and the subsequent killing of the senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr.

The war started on October 7 when Hamas-led fighters broke through security barriers around Gaza and launched a devastating attack on Israeli communities nearby, where 1200 people were killed, and some 250 hostages abducted into Gaza.

In response, Israel launched a relentless ground and air offensive in the densely populated coastal enclave that has killed more than 39,000 people and left more than 2 million facing a severe humanitarian crisis.

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