Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, killed in Iran

The leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed along with one of his bodyguards in Tehran, Iran.

Haniyeh, 62, head of Hamas’s Political Bureau, resided in Qatar throughout the ongoing Israel-Hamas War and was visiting Tehran for the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. His death was announced by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and confirmed by Hamas in the early hours of Wednesday, local time. Hamas immediately blamed Israel for his death.

“The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas mourns the sons of our great Palestinian people, the Arab and Islamic nation, and all the free people of the world: the brother leader, martyr, Mujahid Ismail Haniyeh, head of the movement, who was killed as a result of a Zionist raid,” Hamas announced on its Telegram channel. “He left his residence in Tehran, after participating in the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian president. We belong to God and to Him we shall return, and indeed it is a jihad, victory or martyrdom of the Islamic Resistance Movement.”

In April, three of Haniyeh’s sons and three of his grandchildren were killed in an Israeli airstrike. He claimed that 60 of his family members had been killed in the war since Oct. 7.