Ismail Haniyeh was “assassinated” in Tehran, the Revolutionary Guards announced early Wednesday. Hamas accuses Israel of being behind the attack.
Hamas said Wednesday morning that Ismail Haniyeh had been killed “during a Zionist airstrike on his residence in Tehran after attending the inauguration of the new Iranian president.”
“Hamas announces to the great Palestinian people, to the peoples of the Arab and Islamic nations and to all free peoples of the world that its brother leader Ismail Haniyeh is a martyr.”the statement said.
Israel had vowed to kill Ismail Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders following the Islamist group’s October 7 attack that killed 1,200 people.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AP.
Ismail Haniyeh left the Gaza Strip in 2019 and was living in exile in Qatar.
He was in Tehran on Tuesday to attend the inauguration of the new Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, and had met earlier with Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran has not given any details on how Ismail Haniyeh was killed and has said the attack is under investigation.
Iranian state television analysts immediately accused Israel of being behind the assassination.