On the night of July 31, 2024, the leader of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in Tehran. According to information provided by various media outlets, including Izvestia and Radio Liberty, the attack took place at his residence, which was subjected to rocket fire. Iranian law enforcement agencies have launched an investigation, assuming that the attack was carried out using a guided missile.
The fatal strike occurred on the day of the inauguration of the new Iranian president, Masoud Pazeshkian. Local authorities and Hamas blamed Israel for the attack, which immediately caused a wave of accusations and threats towards Tel Aviv. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed the death of Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards, but the details of the attack remain unclear. Some Arab media outlets report that the rocket hit the house where Haniyeh spent the night.
Ismail Haniyeh was a prominent figure in Hamas. He was born in 1962 in the al-Shati refugee camp in the Gaza Strip and was actively involved in the creation of Hamas in 1987. He was arrested and deported several times during his life. Until 2019, Haniyeh lived in Qatar and Turkey and also headed the Hamas politburo.
Haniyeh’s assassination is seen as a serious escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Representatives of Palestinian groups have already called on their supporters to protest, claiming that the death of their leader will not go unpunished.
