Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh killed in Tehran, group blames Israel

New Delhi: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran early Wednesday. He was in Tehran to attend Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday. Iran gave no details on how Haniyeh was killed, and the Guard said the attack was under investigation.

Haniyeh left the Gaza Strip in 2019 and had lived in exile in Qatar. In May, Haniyeh was among the names listed by the chief prosecutor of the world’s top war crimes court seeking arrest warrants over actions taken during the Israel-Hamas war.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Nasser Kanaani, expressed condolences on the death of Haniyeh and said his blood will never be wasted.

Hamas senior official Moussa Abu Marzouk said that Haniyeh’s assassination will not go unanswered, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported Wednesday.

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

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the assassination but suspicion quickly fell on Israel, which has vowed to kill Haniyeh and other leaders of Hamas over the group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw some 250 others taken hostage.

Israel itself did not immediately comment but it often doesn’t when it comes to assassinations carried out by their Mossad intelligence agency.

The Israeli military says it is not changing its preparedness guidelines for civilians, such as staying close to a bomb shelter. (AP)