31 July,2024 05:50 AM IST | Beirut | Agencies
Hamas said Ismail Haniyeh was killed at his residence in Tehran on Wednesday. Pic/X
Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's supreme leader in exile who landed on Israel's hit list after the militant group staged its surprise October 7 attacks, was killed in an airstrike in the Iranian capital early Wednesday. He was 61. Hamas said Haniyeh was killed at his residence in Tehran in an Israeli airstrike after he attended the swearing-in ceremony of Iran's new president. Israel has not commented on the accusation.
Haniyeh's death makes him the latest Hamas official to be killed by Israel since the Hamas-led October 7 attacks, when militants killed 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages. The devastating Israel-Hamas war the attacks set off has become the deadliest and longest in the Arab-Israeli conflict. More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to health officials in Gaza.
While Hamas's Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar is believed to have been the mastermind of the attacks, Haniyeh, seen as a more moderate force in Hamas, lauded them as a humiliating blow to Israel's aura of invincibility.
Haniyeh lived in self-imposed exile in Qatar since 2019 and the threats against him did not prevent him from travelling. He visited Turkey and Iran throughout the war. From Doha, he was involved in negotiations meant to bring about a cease-fire and free the hostages. His role in Hamas' leadership also cost him his closest relatives. In April, an Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed three of Haniyeh's sons, after which he accused Israel of acting in "the spirit of revenge and murder".
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Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday vowed revenge on Israel over the killing of Hamas' political chief. Khamenei said Israel "prepared a harsh punishment for itself" after Ismail Haniyeh was killed in a predawn airstrike in the Iranian capital Tehran.
The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned the killing of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and offered condolences to the Palestinian people. In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, "We condemn the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in a heinous attack in Tehran."
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