Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the early hours of Wednesday morning in Iran, the Palestinian militant group said, raising fears of wider escalation in a region already destabilized by Israel’s war in Gaza and worsening conflict in Lebanon.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed Haniyeh’s death, which occurred just hours after he attended a swearing-in ceremony for the country’s new president, and said an investigation was underway.
There was no immediate comment from Israel. The Israeli military said it was conducting a situational assessment but had not issued any new security guidelines for civilians.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Washington would work to ease tensions but affirmed that the United States would help defend Israel if it were attacked.
The news came less than 24 hours after Israel claimed to have killed a Hezbollah commander allegedly behind a deadly strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, complicating chances of an imminent ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
“This assassination by the Israeli occupation of Brother Haniyeh is a grave escalation that aims to break the will of Hamas,” senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters. He vowed that Hamas would continue its path, adding, “We are confident of victory.”
Iran’s top security body is expected to meet to decide the country’s strategy in response to Haniyeh’s death, said a source with knowledge of the meeting.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the killing, and Palestinian factions in the occupied West Bank called for a general strike and mass demonstrations.
Haniyeh, normally based in Qatar, has been a key figure in the Palestinian group’s international diplomacy during the conflict initiated by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, in which three of his sons were killed in an Israeli airstrike.
The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor office had requested an arrest warrant for Haniyeh over alleged war crimes, alongside a similar request against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Appointed to the top job in Hamas in 2017, Haniyeh had moved between Turkey and Qatar’s capital Doha, avoiding the travel restrictions of the blockaded Gaza Strip and positioning himself as a negotiator in ceasefire talks and a liaison with Hamas’ ally Iran.
Haniyeh’s assassination comes as Israel’s campaign in Gaza nears the end of its 10th month, with no end in sight to a conflict that has shaken the Middle East and threatened to escalate into a wider regional war.
Despite mounting pressure for a ceasefire and anger at Netanyahu’s government from the families of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza, talks brokered by Egypt and Qatar have stalled.
The risk of war between Israel and Hezbollah has grown following the Golan Heights strike that killed 12 children in a Druze village on Saturday and the subsequent killing of senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr.
The conflict began on October 7 when Hamas fighters broke through security barriers around Gaza and launched a devastating attack on nearby Israeli communities, killing 1,200 people and abducting around 250 hostages.
In response, Israel launched a relentless ground and air offensive in the densely populated coastal enclave, resulting in the deaths of more than 39,000 people and leaving over 2 million facing a severe humanitarian crisis.
