The attack was reported when Haniyeh was in the Iranian capital to attend the swearing-in of Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian.
Tehran: In a major breakthrough for Israel, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were killed in Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Wednesday. In a statement, the terrorist group Hamas said Ismail Haniyeh was killed in “a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran” on Tuesday morning. The group added that an investigation is on to find out more details about the attack.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said, “With condolences to the heroic nation of Palestine and the Islamic nation and the combatants of the Resistance Front and the noble nation of Iran, this morning (Wednesday) the residence of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political office of the Islamic Resistance of Hamas, was hit in Tehran, and following this incident, he and one of his bodyguards were martyred.
The incident was reported when Haniyeh was in the Iranian capital to attend the swearing-in of Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian.
“Brother, leader, mujahid Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the movement, died in a Zionist strike on his headquarters in Tehran after he participated in the inauguration of the new (Iranian) president,” the statement read.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards also confirmed his death and said Haniyeh’s residence in Tehran was “hit” and he was killed along with a bodyguard. However, the Israeli army did not immediately respond to Haniyeh’s killing.
Since the October 7 attack, Israel had vowed to kill Ismail Haniyeh and destroy the Hamas group after the attack that resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians.
Earlier on Tuesday, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Seyyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei, held a meeting with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh. Khamenei took to social media platform X to share pictures of his meeting with Haniyeh.
In a post on X, Khamenei’s office stated, “Imam Khamenei met with Ismail Haniyah, head of the political bureau of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas, and Mr. Ziyad al-Nakhalah, the Secretary General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement.”
In its reply to the post, the Israel Defence Forces posted “Did someone ask for a photo-op of Iran and the leaders of their proxies? Iran’s Khamenei met with Hamas’ Ismail Haniyah and the Islamic Jihad’s Ziyad-al Nakhalah — two of the terrorist organizations who have been attempting to kill Israelis using weapons made and funded by Iran. We can only assume the topics of conversation included how to spend more Iranian money to kill Israelis while wishing Hezbollah’s Nasrallah could join them.”
Ismail Haniyeh who is based in Qatar, was in Tehran to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the Iranian President-elect, Masoud Pezeshkian, according to a Press TV report.
Earlier in April, three sons of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh were killed in an air strike carried out by the Israeli Air Force on Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) informed. The three sons of the Hamas leader, who were confirmed dead by the Israeli forces, were identified as Amir Haniyeh, a cell commander in the Hamas military wind and Mohammad and Hazem Haniyeh.”