Hamas accuses Israel of ‘assassinating’ its top leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran; Tehran vows revenge

Iran’s supreme leader vowed revenge against Israel. “We consider his revenge as our duty,” Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement on his official website. He said Israel had “prepared a harsh punishment for itself” by killing “a dear guest in our home.”

According to news agency Reuters, Israel hasn’t responded to the incident yet.

“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.

He said Hamas would continue the path it was following, adding: “We are confident of victory.”

The assassination comes hours after Israel claimed to have killed the Hezbollah commander it said was behind a deadly strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Israel had vowed to kill Haniyeh and other leaders of Hamas over the group’s October 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw some 250 others taken hostage.

In April, an Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed three of Haniyeh’s sons and four of his grandchildren.

How has the world reacted to this?

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned Haniyeh’s killing, calling it a “cowardly act and dangerous development.” Political factions in the West Bank called for strikes in protest at the killing.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said that assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh’s “blood will never be wasted”. “Haniyeh’s martyrdom in Tehran will strengthen the deep and unbreakable bond between Tehran, Palestine, and the resistance,” Kanaani was quoted as saying by Iranian state media.

Reacting to the news, a deputy Russian foreign minister said that the killing was “an absolutely unacceptable political murder”. “This is an absolutely unacceptable political murder, and it will lead to further escalation of tensions,” RIA cited Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov as saying. Bogdanov said the killing will also have a negative impact on ceasefire talks in Gaza, RIA added.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry, while offering condolences, said: “It has been revealed once again that the Netanyahu Government has no intention of achieving peace. This attack also aims to spread the war in Gaza to a regional level. If the international community does not take action to stop Israel, our region will face much greater conflicts.”

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