Lahore Mirror (Reuters) — Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the early hours of Wednesday morning in Iran, Palestinian group Hamas said, drawing fears of a wider escalation in a region shaken by Israel’s offensive in Gaza and a worsening conflict in Lebanon.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed the death of Haniyeh, hours after he attended a swearing-in ceremony for the country’s new president, and said it was investigating.
They added that one of Haniyeh’s bodyguards was also killed in their residence in Tehran early on Wednesday, Iran’s state-owned news agency IRNA reported.
There was no immediate comment from Israel. The Israeli military said it was conducting a situational assessment but had not issued any new security guidelines for civilians.
The news, which came less than 24 hours after Israel claimed to have killed the Hezbollah commander it said was behind a deadly strike in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights, appears to set back chances of any imminent ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
“This assassination by the Israeli occupation of Brother Haniyeh is a grave escalation that aims to break the will of Hamas,” senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
“We confirm that this escalation will fail to achieve its objectives. Hamas is a concept and an institution and not persons,” he said.
Zuhri vowed Hamas would continue the path it was following, adding: “We are confident of victory.”
Iran’s top security body is expected to meet to decide Iran’s strategy in reaction to the death of Haniyeh, a close ally of Tehran, said a source with knowledge of the meeting.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the killing of Haniyeh and Palestinian factions in the occupied West Bank called for a general strike and mass demonstrations.
Abbas is a rival of Haniyeh but slammed the killing as “cowardly”.
“President Mahmud Abbas of the State of Palestine strongly condemned the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, deeming it a cowardly act and a serious escalation,” Abbas’s office said in a statement.
“He urged our people and their forces to unite, remain patient, and stand firm against the Israeli occupation.”
Haniyeh’s son, Abdul Salam, said his father “survived four assassination attempts during his patriotic journey, and today Allah has granted him the martyrdom that he always wished for”.
“He was very keen to establish national unity and strived for the unity of all Palestinian factions and we affirm that this assassination will not deter the resistance, which will fight until freedom is achieved,” he said.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei 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.”
Iran’s new President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a statement later today: “The Zionists will soon see the consequences of their cowardly and terrorist act.”
“Such measures are a sign that the policies of the Zionist regime have reached a dead end,” he added.
A former commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Mohsen Rezaie, warned that Israel would “pay a heavy price” for assassinating Haniyeh in Tehran, Iranian state media reported.
Haniyeh, normally based in Qatar, has been the face of the Palestinian group’s international diplomacy as the offensive set off by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7 has raged in Gaza, where three of his sons were killed in an Israeli airstrike.
