Hamas has announced that its top leader, Ismail Haniyeh, has been killed in Tehran, Iran’s capital. In a statement issued on Wednesday, Hamas claimed that Israel attacked Haniyeh’s residence in Tehran, resulting in his death. Israel has not yet responded to these allegations.
Haniyeh had traveled to Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian. Before this, he had been residing in Qatar. According to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, one of Haniyeh’s security guards was also killed in the attack. Iranian media have confirmed Haniyeh’s death.
Ismail Haniyeh was the head of Hamas’s politburo and served as the prime minister of the tenth government of the Palestinian Authority. Known by his surname Abu Al Abd, he was born in a Palestinian refugee camp. In 1989, Israel imprisoned him for three years. The US State Department declared him a terrorist in 2018.
