Hamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh Killed in Tehran Raid

In a significant escalation of Middle East tensions, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were killed in Tehran on Tuesday morning. Hamas announced that Haniyeh’s residence was targeted in what they described as "a treacherous Zionist raid."

Haniyeh, in the Iranian capital for the inauguration of Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian, was struck at his headquarters, resulting in his and his bodyguard’s deaths. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed the attack and Haniyeh’s death.

"This assassination by the Israeli occupation of Brother Haniyeh is a grave escalation that aims to break the will of Hamas," said senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri. Israeli Minister Amichay Eliyahu reacted by posting on X (formerly Twitter), calling the incident "the right way to clean the world from this filth."

The attack follows an earlier vow by Israel to eliminate Haniyeh in response to an October 7 attack that killed 1,195 people, mostly civilians. Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza has resulted in the deaths of at least 39,400 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Haniyeh, who had been elected head of the Hamas political bureau in 2017, had lived in exile, splitting his time between Turkey and Qatar, and maintained diplomatic relations with various factions and leaders in the region. He joined Hamas in 1987 during the first Palestinian intifada against Israeli occupation.

Iran, which supports Hamas, has made the Palestinian cause a focal point of its foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic revolution.