Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the early hours of the morning in Iran, the Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Wednesday, describing the strike as a “severe escalation” that would not achieve its goals.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed the death of Haniyeh, hours after he attended a swearing in ceremony for the country’s new president, and said it was investigating.
There was no immediate comment from Israeli authorities.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Haniyeh.
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 would continue the path it was following, adding: “We are confident of victory.”
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 Oct. 7 has raged in Gaza, where three of his sons were killed in an Israeli airstrike.
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 chief of Israeli’s Mossad intelligence agency vowed to kill Haniyeh after Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks killed 1,200 people and resulted in the kidnappings of 250.
His sons were among the most high-profile figures to have been killed during the war triggered by Oct. 7’s attacks, which led to a war that has killed 40,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in Gaza, and destroyed much of the enclave.
Haniyeh had then vowed that Hamas would not cave under Israeli pressure.
The strike came after the Israeli military said it killed a Hezbollah leader, Fuad Shukr, in a strike Tuesday on a suburb in southern Beirut, known to be the home of Hezbollah’s headquarters.
The strike, it said, was against the commander responsible for the deadly attack on the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights that killed 12 people last week.
On the Hamas-run Al Aqsa TV, Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said the group is “waging an open war to liberate Jerusalem and are ready to pay various prices.”
By Agencies
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