Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, bodyguard ‘assassinated’ in Iran; Israel blamed

Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Islamist group Hamas that runs the Palestinian territory of Gaza, has been ‘assassinated’ in Iran's Tehran, a Hamas statement confirmed on Wednesday.

The confirmation from Hamas regarding Haniyeh's death came after Iran's Revolutionary Guards informed about the ‘martyrdom’ of the Gaza-based group's foremost leader.

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"With condolences to the heroic nation of Palestine and the Islamic nation and combatants of the Resistant Front and the noble nation of Iran, this morning the residence of Mr. Dr. Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political office of the Islamic Resistance of Hamas, was hit in Tehran, and following this incident, he and one of his bodyguards were martyred," the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps) statement read.

The Hamas chief was in the Iranian capital for the swearing-in ceremony of Masoud Pezeshkian, the new President of Iran.

While no one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, analysts on the Iranian state television, immediately began accusing Israel. The Hamas statement, too, pinned the blame on Israel, saying that Haniyeh was killed in an ‘airstrike’ on his residence.

A war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7 last year, the day on which the latter carried out attacks in Israel; more than 1200 people were killed and around 250 were taken hostage.

In the subsequent retaliation, around 40,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 90,000 wounded, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.

Israel and Iran, too, have been long-time foes.