He was living in voluntary exile between Qatar and Turkey, but it was in Tehran, Iran, that the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, 61, was killed by a strike attributed to Israel, the Palestinian Islamist movement announced on Wednesday July 31. This “assassination” comes in the context of the devastating war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which has also rekindled tensions between the Jewish state and Lebanon, where Hezbollah operates. The day before, the Israeli army had claimed responsibility for the elimination, in a strike carried out near Beirut, of a senior military official of this Shiite movement supported by Iran, in retaliation for the firing of a rocket that killed twelve people on the Golan Heights. As fears of a generalized conflict in the region are growing, here is what we know about the circumstances of Ismail Haniyeh’s death.
“Direct targeting” in Tehran after the inauguration of the new Iranian president
The sixty-year-old was in Tehran to attend the swearing-in of Iran’s new president, Massoud Pezeshkian, before parliament on Tuesday. As a reminder, Iran, an ally of Hamas, does not recognize the Israeli state and has made support for the Palestinian cause a central element of its foreign policy since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
“[Notre] brother, the leader, the mujahid Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the movement, died in a Zionist strike on his headquarters in Tehran after his participation in the inauguration of the new president” Iranian, Hamas wrote in a statement. A little later, a senior member of the movement, Taher al-Nounou, said it was a “direct targeting” of Ismail Haniyeh at his residence in the Iranian capital. “Operation mode [de l’assassinat] will be determined by our Iranian counterparts who are conducting investigations.”he added.
The Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Iranian Islamic Republic, confirmed on their news website Sepah that “The residence of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of the Islamic resistance of Hamas, was hit in Tehran, and (…) he and one of his bodyguards died as martyrs.” They announced the opening of an investigation, and the country declared three days of national mourning on Wednesday.
No official claim from Israel
In response to the unprecedented attack on October 7, led by Hamas, Israel has vowed to continue the war until the total destruction of the Islamist movement, which has been in power in the Gaza Strip since 2007. While the Israeli army has not commented on the death of Ismail Haniyeh, all eyes are on the Jewish state, which has killed many members of his family in recent months. In June, the Palestinian Civil Defense announced the death of ten of them, including Zahr Haniyeh, his sister, in a raid on the Chati refugee camp. In April, three sons and four grandchildren of Ismail Haniyeh died in a strike in the same camp. Ismail Haniyeh said at the time that around 60 members of his family had been killed since the start of the war.
One of his surviving sons, Abdul Salam Ismail Haniyeh, said his father had “got what he wanted.” “We are in a state of continuous revolution and struggle against occupation” Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories, he responded in a statement. “The resistance will not end with the assassination of the leaders, and Hamas will continue to resist until liberation”he added.
The noose has been tightening around this leader in recent times, while other Hamas leaders have been targeted by Israel, including Mohammed Deif, the movement’s military leader, and Rafa Salama, commander in Khan Younis, both presented as “Masterminds of the October 7 massacre”. While Rafa Salama’s death has been confirmed by the Israeli army, that of Mohammed Deif remains uncertain. On Tuesday evening, it was a military leader of Hezbollah, a supporter of Hamas, Fouad Chokr, who was killed by an Israeli strike near Beirut, Lebanon.
Ismail Haniyeh has headed Hamas’ political bureau since 2017.
Ismail Haniyeh, who joined Hamas in 1987, rose to international prominence in 2006 when he became prime minister of the Palestinian Authority after Hamas’ surprise victory in the legislative elections. After leading a unity government, he pledged to work toward the creation of a Palestinian state. “in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with Jerusalem as its capital”going against the official Hamas discourse, which at the time did not recognize these borders. But Ismail Haniyeh was dismissed from his post a year later and it was under his leadership that the quasi-civil war between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority broke out in 2007.
Ten years later, in 2017, this native of the Chati refugee camp, one of the poorest in the Gaza Strip, was elected head of the Hamas political bureau to succeed Khaled Meshaal, in exile in Qatar. He himself went into voluntary exile in 2019 in Qatar and Turkey.
In footage released by Hamas media shortly after the October 7 attack, Ismail Haniyeh can be seen jubilantly chatting with other Hamas leaders in his office in Doha, Qatar, as he watches an Arab TV report showing Hamas commandos seizing Israeli army jeeps.
Strong condemnations in the Arab world and beyond
An official from Hamas’ political bureau immediately warned that “murder” Ismail Haniyeh was “a cowardly act, which will not go unanswered”Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas also condemned the “cowardly assassination” and called on the Palestinians to remain united. The same tone was heard in Türkiye, which denounced “the ignoble assassination” of this close friend of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. A senior official of the Houthis, who control a large part of Yemen, spoke of“a heinous terrorist crime”.
Qatar, which hosts the Hamas political leadership and plays an important role in negotiations for a truce in Gaza, condemned the “assassination” and warned against a “dangerous escalation” in the region. Russia, of which Iran is one of the main ally, has also denounced this “unacceptable political assassination”. “This will lead to a further escalation of tensions,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency.
Saying to condemn “terrorism in all its forms”Pakistan has warned against “Growing Israeli Adventurism” of which “The latest action constitutes a dangerous escalation in an unstable region”For its part, the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced a “flagrant violation of international law”. This assassination “threatens the security and stability of the region”he added.