Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in an attack in Tehran, the Iranian capital, Iranian media reported on Wednesday. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were killed when their house was struck.
Press TV reported that the incident is under investigation, with results to be announced later. Haniyeh was in Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of Iran’s president-elect, Masoud Pezeshkian.
In a statement, Hamas confirmed the assassination, describing Haniyeh’s death as a result of a “treacherous Zionist attack” on his residence. Hamas mourned the loss of Haniyeh, referring to him as a leader and mujahid who was martyred following his participation in the presidential inauguration.
Iranian media sources indicated that Haniyeh’s funeral would be held in Doha on Friday. Tehran residents are expected to hold a rally in Palestine Square on Wednesday at 5:00 PM local time in honor of Haniyeh. Additionally, an official and public funeral ceremony will be conducted in Tehran on Thursday before his body is transferred to Doha for burial.
Ismail Haniyeh, who led Hamas since May 2017, was elected as the head of the group’s political bureau, succeeding Khaled Meshaal. Born in the Shati refugee camp in the Gaza Strip to parents who fled Asqalan following the creation of Israel in 1948, Haniyeh studied at the al-Azhar Institute in Gaza and graduated with a degree in Arabic literature from the Islamic University in Gaza. He joined the Islamic Student alliance, a precursor to Hamas, in 1983 and rose through the ranks to become a close aide to Hamas cofounder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
Earlier this year, an Israeli strike killed three of Haniyeh’s sons in northern Gaza.
