One of Hamas’ longest-serving and most influential leaders, Chairman of the Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh, was targeted and killed on Tuesday in Tehran while in town to attend the inauguration ceremony of Iran’s new president. Hamas referred to Haniyeh as the “head of the movement,” the man who represented the Palestinian terrorist group as its public face in high-profile negotiations and gatherings around the world—including ongoing and stalled ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel.
Hamas confirmed Haniyeh’s death via the group’s official Telegram channel early Wednesday, saying Israel was responsible for the raid. Israel did not immediately claim credit for Haniyeh’s death, though the IDF has been targeting Haniyeh since at least 2003 and recently killed multiple members of Haniyeh’s family in a strike on his residence in Gaza, while Haniyeh conducted Hamas business remotely hiding out in Qatar and Turkey.
“Hamas mourns to our great Palestinian people, to the Arab and Islamic nations, and to all the free people of the world, the martyr, the Mujahid Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the movement, who was killed in a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran,” Hamas said on Telegram.
Israel has conducted at least a half dozen, precision assassinations in Iran over the last number of years, including high-ranking Revolutionary Guards Corps members and top Hezbollah commanders. Their latest apparent strike should call into question the security of other top leaders in Iran, since Haniyeh was photographed on Tuesday with other top leaders of Iran’s Axis of Resistance, including Hamas, Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, even spent time with Haniyeh on Tuesday.
Haniyeh, 62, rose to power at the hand of Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin, where he served as Yassin’s personal secretary. He was named senior Hamas leader in Gaza in 2006 and elevated to chief political leader in 2017, the face of a terrorist group which he tried to soften with frequent appearances.
Haniyeh was designated by the Department of State as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in 2018. He served multiple stints in Israeli prison in the 1980s and 1990s, and Israel’s first unsuccessful assassination attempt on Haniyeh was carried out 21 years ago alongside Yassin, according to reports.
In the hours after Haniyeh’s death, Iran reportedly held an emergency meeting of its Supreme National Security Council on Wednesday—with Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani reportedly present at Khamenei’s residence—as Iran, the Axis, Hamas and the region at-large begins to grapple with the fallout.
