Hamas Says Leader Killed In Israel Strike In Iran

Hamas said Wednesday its political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli strike in Iran, where he was attending the swearing-in of the new president, and vowed the act "will not go unanswered".

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei too threatened "harsh punishment" for Haniyeh's killing, saying: "We consider it our duty to seek revenge for his blood as he was martyred in the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran."

Israel declined to comment on the Tehran strike, which came after it struck a Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut on Tuesday, targeting a senior commander of the Lebanese militant group it blamed for a deadly weekend rocket strike on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

"Brother leader, mujahid Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the movement, died in a Zionist strike on his residence in Tehran after he participated in the inauguration of the new (Iranian) president," the Palestinian militant group said in a statement.

Hamas political bureau member Musa Abu Marzuk vowed the group would retaliate. "The assassination of leader Ismail Haniyeh is a cowardly act and will not go unanswered," he said.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards also announced the death, saying Haniyeh's residence in Tehran was hit and he was killed along with a bodyguard.

Iranian media said the 2:00 am (2230 GMT) strike targeted "the special residences for war veterans in north Tehran" where Haniyeh was staying.

Haniyeh had travelled to Tehran to attend Tuesday's swearing-in of President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Pezeshkian vowed to make Israel "regret" Haniyeh's killing.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran will defend its territorial integrity, honour, pride and dignity, and make the terrorist invaders regret their cowardly action," Pezeshkian said in a post.

Iran declared three days of mourning.

An "official and public" funeral ceremony for Haniyeh will be held in Tehran on Thursday before his body is flown to Qatar, his base in recent years, for burial on Friday, Hamas said.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas condemned Haniyeh's killing as a "cowardly act". Palestinian factions in the Israeli-occupied West Bank called for a general strike and protest marches across the territory.

Iran ally Syria warned the strike could "set the region ablaze".

Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas in retaliaton for its October 7 attacks on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.

The attacks resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Militants also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory campaign against Hamas has killed at least 39,400 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, which does not provide details on civilian and militant deaths.

Regional tensions have soared during the war, drawing in Iran-backed militant groups in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

Qatar's prime minister, who has spearheaded efforts to broker a truce and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas, said Haniyeh's killing threw the whole mediation process into doubt.

"How can mediation succeed when one party assassinates the negotiator on the other side?" Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani asked in a post on X

"Peace needs serious partners."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that a ceasefire in Gaza was still the "imperative".

Speaking at a forum in Singapore, Blinken refused to comment directly on the killing of Haniyeh, but he said reaching a ceasefire in Gaza "is the enduring imperative".

Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators had met with Israeli negotiators in Rome on Sunday in their latest push for a deal as international pressure for a ceasefire mounts.

The Tehran strike which killed Haniyeh came hours after Israel said it had killed senior Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in a strike on the group's stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs.

Hezbollah said Wednesday that Shukr was inside the building hit by Israel but that his fate remained unknown.

The Israeli military said its Tuesday strike had "eliminated" Shukr, a top Hezbollah commander it blamed for carrying out a weekend rocket attack on the annexed Golan Heights that killed 12 children in a Druze Arab town.

Chairing a cabinet meeting Wednesday, Lebanese Prime Minister Naib Mikati warned: "The strike on the southern suburbs is a strike on... efforts for calm."

Haniyeh was elected head of the Hamas political bureau in 2017 to succeed Khaled Meshaal.

He was already a well-known figure having become Palestinian prime minister in 2006 following an upset victory by Hamas in that year's parliamentary election.

Considered a pragmatist, Haniyeh lived in exile and split his time between Qatar and Turkey.