Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran
The leader of the Palestinian group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, has been assassinated in Iran, officials in the country have said.
Iran’s state television made the announcement of the killing early on Wednesday, and was confirmed by Hamas.
A Revolutionary Guards statement said that Haniyeh and a security guard had been ambushed in their place of residence.
The Guards said what caused the incident was not yet known, but an investigation is underway.
Haniyeh, who was the head of the political office of Hamas Islamic Resistance, travelled to Iran for the swearing in ceremony of the reformist president Masoud Pezeshkian.
The Palestinian leader had earlier met Pezeshkian and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Israel has promised to wipe out Hamas after the group conducted a deadly raid in to settlements outside the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, killing around 2,000 people and taking hostages back to the Palestinian enclave.
Israel soon after launched a devastating military assault in Gaza killing over 40,000 people, mainly civilians.
Both sides have been trying to negotiate a hostage release agreement, which would include a cessation of fighting, with the help of the US and regional negotiators.
Israel has previously carried out assassinations in Iran on figures key to the Islamic republic’s nuclear program.
In April, Iran said its consulate in Damascus was destroyed and a top general killed in an attack Tehran blamed on Israel.
Iran soon after launched a barrage of missiles toward Israel, but they were all shot down. Israel hit back by attacking sites in Isfahan.
Further escalation between the two sides had been avoided through diplomacy, but Israel has continued to attack Iranian affiliates in Syria.
The scale of Israel’s military response to the Hamas attacks has been condemned, with the International Court of Justices agreeing that there may be a possible case that the country has engaged in acts of genocide.
Israel has also been accused of collective punishment and using starvation as a weapon in the fight against the militant group.