Former Palestinian Authority prime minister and chairman of the Hamas politburo Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Tehran.
By David Rosenberg, World Israel News
Ismail Haniyeh, the chairman of the Hamas politburo and the former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, was killed in an apparent assassination in Tehran, Hamas announced Wednesday morning.
Hamas attributed Haniyeh’s killing to Israel, saying he was assassinated at his Tehran residence.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the killing.
Haniyeh, who led Hamas’ forces in the Gaza Strip from 2014 to 2017 before going into exile, had lived in Qatar until his assassination, using the Gulf state as his center of operations for directing the terrorist group’s activities.
At the time of his assassination, he had been in Tehran to attend the inauguration of incoming President Masour Pezeshkian, and had met with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Palestinian Islamic Jihad chief Ziyad al-Nakhalah on Tuesday.
“Hamas mourns the sons of our great Palestinian people, the Arab and Islamic nation and all free people in the world,” Hamas said in a statement Wednesday.
“Our leader and brother, Shahid, the fighter Ismail Haniyeh. The group’s leader died as the result of a treacherous Zionist attack on his residence in Tehran.”
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed that Haniyeh and a bodyguard were killed early Wednesday morning, but provided no details regarding the cause of death.
“With condolences to the heroic nation of Palestine and the Islamic nation and the combatants of the Resistance Front and the noble nation of Iran, this morning, the residence of Mr. Dr. Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political office of the Islamic Resistance of Hamas, was hit in Tehran, and following this incident, he and one of his bodyguards were martyred.”
“Early this morning, the residence of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran was struck, resulting in his and one of his body guards’ martyrdom. The cause is under investigation and will be announced soon.”
According to the Saudi media outlet Al Arabiya, Haniyeh and his bodyguard were killed at 2:00 a.m.
Hamas spokesman Mus Abu Marzouk vowed that the terror group would avenge the death of their leader, saying the assassination would not “not pass in silence.”