Hamas’s political head was killed in a Tehran strike hours after an Israeli strike killed a Hezbollah leader in Beirut. Israel has not commented on the killing.
The Hamas terrorist group's top leader Ismail Haniyeh speaks during a press conference in Tehran, Iran, on March 26, 2024. Majid Asgaripour/WANA via Reuters
National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby speaks during a daily press briefing at the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on July 31, 2024. Alex Wong/Getty Images
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to reporters alongside Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, on July 24, 2024. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends the 31st ASEAN Regional Forum at the 57th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Vientiane, Laos, on July 27, 2024. Sai Aung Main/AFP via Getty Images
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were killed while in Tehran, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said early July 31.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the killings, but Hamas blamed Israel for the attack, saying Haniyeh was killed during an airstrike on his residence in Tehran. Iran’s state media also blamed Israel for the attack.
Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’s political bureau, was in Tehran for the swearing-in of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad al-Nakhaleh was also in Tehran for the inauguration.
The IRGC said in a statement that the incident is under investigation, state media reported.
Israel has been fighting Hamas in Gaza since the terrorist group launched an attack on border cities in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 civilians and military members as hostages.
Haniyeh, who assumed the leadership position in 2017, had been living in Qatar along with other Hamas leaders. He had played a major part in building up Hamas’s fighting capacity, in part by strengthening ties with Iran. Since Haniyeh’s departure from Gaza, Yahya Sinwar has been the Hamas chief in the Gaza Strip.
Previously, three of Haniyeh’s sons were killed on April 10 in an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip.
While in Iran for the swearing-in ceremony on July 30, Haniyeh had met with the new president, as well as Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
Pezeshkian told Haniyeh that Iran will continue to offer its support “with ever more strength and power.”
Pezeshkian is replacing the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi who died in a helicopter crash incident in May in northern Iran.
Two-Front War
In response to an attack in Israel’s Golan Heights on July 27 that killed 12 children, Israel on July 30 struck a Hezbollah stronghold near Beirut, killing a commander that it says was responsible for the Golan Heights blast. The July 30 attack on Beirut also killed three others.
Israel’s fight against Iran-backed Hezbollah has intensified in recent weeks, while it has been fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vowed to retaliate against Hezbollah for its July 27 attack.
Prior to the soccer field attack by Hezbollah, the two sides had been targeting each other with rockets.
Netanyahu visited Washington last week, addressing a joint session of the U.S. Congress on July 24 to ask for the United States to “stand together” with Israel.
The Associated Press, Reuters, and Dan Berger contributed to this report.
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