Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh has been k!lled during a raid at his residence in Tehran, according to the Palestinian military group Hamas and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
Haniyeh was k!lled on Wednesday, July 31, after attending the swearing-in inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian president, Hamas said in a statement.
The Revolutionary Guards confirmed Haniyeh’s de@th in a separate statement.
“Early this morning, the residence of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran was struck, resulting in his and one of his bodyguards’ martyrdom. The cause is under investigation and will be announced soon,” the Revolutionary Guards said.
“Hamas declares to the great Palestinian people and the people of the Arab and Islamic nations and all the free people of the world, brother leader Ismail Ismail Haniyeh a martyr,” the terse statement said.
In another statement, the group quoted Haniyeh as saying that the Palestinian cause has “costs” and “we are ready for these costs: martyrdom for the sake of Palestine, and for the sake of God Almighty, and for the sake of the dignity of this nation.”
Haniyeh was the exiled political chief of the militant group and had spent much of his time in recent years in Qatar and Turkey. Considered a pragmatist, he had acted as a negotiator in the ceasefire talks during the Israel-Gaza war, liaised with Hamas’s main ally, Iran, and met with the Turkish president.
Haniyeh was also said to maintain good relations with the heads of the various Palestinian factions, including rivals to Hamas.
He was elected head of the Hamas political bureau in 2017 to succeed Khaled Meshaal, but was already a well-known figure having become Palestinian prime minister in 2006 following an upset victory by Hamas in that year’s parliamentary election.