Who Was Ismail Haniyeh, The Hamas Political Chief Killed In Iran?
Hamas mourned the death of its political leader and said he was killed in "a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran."
Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh along with one of his bodyguards was killed in an airstrike in the Iranian capital of Tehran, the militant group said early Wednesday.
The statement said Haniyeh was in Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday when the building in which they were staying was struck.
Though there was no immediate comment from Israel, which has vowed to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders over the group's October 7 attack on southern Israel, which left 1,200 people dead and saw some 250 others taken hostage, Hamas blamed Haniyeh's death on an Israeli airstrike.
Hamas mourned the death of its political leader and said he was killed in "a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran." However, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it was investigating the attack and did not say how it occurred.
Who Was Ismail Haniyeh?
Here is a brief summary of who Haniyeh was and his role in the geo-politics of the region:
Ismail Haniyeh was a key Palestinian political figure, and a key interlocutor with international mediators during stalled hostage and ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas, following the group’s October 7 attack on Israel. His death could jeopardise these talks, media reports said.
He was born in 1963 in a refugee camp near Gaza City. He attended United Nations-run schools and graduated from the Islamic University of Gaza with a degree in Arabic literature in 1987. While at university, he joined Hamas in the late 1980s during the First Intifada, or uprising.
He was imprisoned several times in Israel for his participation in the uprising, before being deported and returning to Gaza, where he climbed Hamas ranks in the following decade, as per a CNN report.
Reuters quoted Hamas as saying three of Haniyeh's sons and four of his grandchildren were killed on April 10 when an Israeli airstrike hit their car.
Haniyeh had left the Gaza Strip, and was living in Qatar.
