Palestinian organization Hamas announced on Wednesday that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Iran early on a Wednesday morning. Hamas described the strike as a “severe escalation” that would not accomplish its objectives.
Hours after Haniyeh attended the nation’s new president’s swearing-in ceremony, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards verified his death and declared that an investigation was underway.
The Israeli government did not immediately respond.
An inquiry about Haniyeh received no immediate response from the White House.
The announcement seems to have hampered the prospects of an impending ceasefire in Gaza, given it was made less than twenty-four hours after Israel declared it had killed the Hezbollah leader it claimed was responsible for a fatal strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters, “This assassination by the Israeli occupation of Brother Haniyeh is a grave escalation that aims to break the will of Hamas.”
He declared that Hamas would stick to its current course and added, “We are confident of victory.”
Normally located in Qatar, Haniyeh has served as the spokesperson for the Palestinian group’s foreign diplomacy while the conflict that erupted in Gaza on October 7 due to an Israeli bombing that claimed the lives of three of his kids.
After Haniyeh was appointed to the senior position in Hamas in 2017, he went between Turkey and Doha, the capital of Qatar, to avoid the travel restrictions imposed on the blockaded Gaza Strip. This allowed him to negotiate a truce or speak with Iran, an ally of Hamas.
