Hamas: "Political leader Haniyeh assassinated in Iran... Israel responsible"

"Iran President Assassinated in Tehran on Inauguration Day"

Ismail Haniyeh, the top political leader of the Palestinian armed faction Hamas, was reported dead due to an Israeli attack, Hamas announced on the 31st (local time).

According to major foreign media including The New York Times (NYT), Hamas posted a statement on its Telegram account on the same day, announcing that Haniyeh died the previous day in Tehran, the capital of Iran, due to an Israeli attack. Iran's state media PressTV also confirmed this fact, citing a statement from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

Haniyeh was one of the senior leaders of Hamas and attended the inauguration ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian held the day before. According to the statement, Haniyeh and the IRGC were targeted at his residence.

Previously, he led Hamas to a landslide victory in the 2006 Palestinian general election and became Prime Minister, but was later dismissed amid conflicts between Hamas and Fatah (currently leading the Palestinian Authority) over the election results. Subsequently, in 2007, Hamas unilaterally began governing the Gaza Strip, and he served as the Hamas leader in Gaza.

In February 2017, Haniyeh handed over the leadership of the Gaza Strip to Yahya Sinwar, and after being elected as the head of the Hamas political bureau in May of the same year, he has been living in Qatar.