ReutersThe group said Hamas’ top leader Ismail Haniyeh had been killed in Iran.
Hamas said in a statement released on Wednesday that Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli attack on his residence in Tehran.
Some other senior Hamas figures, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, described Haniyeh’s death as an “assassination” and vowed revenge.
No one has claimed responsibility yet.
According to AFP, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the cause of the “incident” was not yet clear but was “under investigation.”
Haniyeh died after attending the inauguration of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, who was sworn in on Tuesday, according to the group.
Hamas, the Palestinian group that controls Gaza, said Haniyeh “was killed in a dangerous Zionist attack.”
Moussa Abu Mazouq, a member of the organization’s politburo, said this was a “cowardly act” and would “not go unanswered”; Sami Abu Zuhri, another senior Hamas official, said It said the organization would “continue on its path”.
“The assassination of the Haniyeh brothers under Israeli occupation is a serious escalation aimed at undermining the will of Hamas and our people and achieving false goals,” Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
Israel has yet to respond or issue a statement.
U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyHaniyeh, 62, is widely considered the overall leader of Hamas.
He was a key member of the group’s movement in the late 1980s and was imprisoned by Israel for three years in 1989 for suppressing the first Palestinian uprising.
In 1992, he was exiled along with some Hamas leaders to the no man’s land between Israel and Lebanon.
Haniyeh was appointed Palestinian prime minister in 2006 by President Mahmoud Abbas after Hamas won the most seats in national elections, but a year later the group removed Abbas from leadership during a week of deadly violence. The Fatah party was expelled from Gaza and Haniyeh was fired.
Haniyeh denied that his dismissal was “unconstitutional,” stressing that his government “will not abandon its national responsibility to the Palestinian people” and continue to rule in Gaza.
he is Elected Chairman of Hamas Politburo 2017.
2018, U.S. State Department labels Haniyeh a terrorist. He has been living in Qatar for the past few years.
