Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Tehran, says group

Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh has been assassinated in Tehran, the Palestinian resistance group said on Wednesday.

In a statement, the group said their leader was killed in “a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran”.

The Hamas chief and one of his bodyguards were killed when the building they were staying in was attacked, reports quoting a statement from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said.

The Revolutionary Guards said that early this morning, the residence of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran was struck. As a result,  the Hamas chief and one of his body guard martyred. The incident is being investigated and findings will be announced soon.

Ismail Haniyeh was in Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk said the murder of Ismail Haniyeh is a cowardly act that will not go unpunished.

Meanwhile, Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told media that Haniyeh’s assassination is a grave escalation that will not achieve its goals.

Haniyeh was the tough-talking face of the Palestinian group’s international diplomacy as war raged back in Gaza, where three of his sons were killed in an Israeli airstrike.

But despite the rhetoric, he was seen by many diplomats as a moderate compared to the more hardline members of the group inside Gaza.

Appointed to the Hamas top job in 2017, Haniyeh 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.