Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Palestinian movement Hamas, was killed early Wednesday morning in Iran, according to reports. This generated worries about an imminent explosion in a region already hit by Israel’s offensive in Gaza and a deepening crisis in Lebanon.
Another official news source in Iran, IRNA, confirmed that Haniyeh had been killed and said that one of his bodyguards had also been killed at their home in the city early Wednesday.
Israel remained silent straight away. The Israeli military claimed it was considering the matter but had not developed any fresh safety guidelines for individuals.
Lloyd Austin, the UK Defence Secretary, warned that although the US would try to cool things down, should Israel be attacked the US would assist in defending Israel.
Ismail Haniyeh
The news came less than 24 hours after Israel said it had killed the Hezbollah leader it said was responsible for a deadly attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. It looks like there will be less chance of an immediate ceasefire in Gaza after this.
A top Hamas official told Reuters, “This killing of Brother Ismail Haniyeh by the Israeli occupation is a serious step up that is meant to break the will of Hamas.”
He said that Hamas would keep going in the same direction and added, “We are sure we will win.”
A person familiar with the meeting said that Iran’s top security body will meet to decide what to do about the death of Haniyeh, who was a close ally of Tehran.
Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, spoke out against Haniyeh’s death, and different groups in the occupied West Bank called for a general strike and large-scale protests.
Usually living in Qatar, Haniyeh has been the face of Palestinian group international diplomacy during the offensive in Gaza starting with the attack on Israel on October 7 driven by Hamas. During this period three of his sons perished in an Israeli airstrike.
Haniyeh has been the leader of Hamas since 2017. He has been moving between Turkey and Doha, the capital of Qatar, to avoid the travel restrictions in the blockaded Gaza Strip and to talk to Hamas’ partner Iran or to negotiate a ceasefire.
Haniyeh was killed at a time when Israel’s campaign in Gaza is almost 10 months old and shows no signs of ending. The conflict has shook the Middle East and threatened to spread to other parts of the region.
At the same time, there is a greater chance of a war between Israel and Hezbollah since the attack on the Golan Heights on Saturday that killed 12 children in a Druze village and then killed Fuad Shukr, the top Hezbollah leader.
On October 7, Hamas fighters stormed over security barriers in Gaza and attacked nearby Israeli communities, murdering 1,200 people and bringing 250 hostages into Gaza. This marked the commencement of the conflict.
In response, Israel launched an ongoing aerial and ground offensive in the densely populated coastal enclave. Over 39,000 people have died as a result of this, and over 2 million people are in desperate need of food and water.
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