Turkish Journal – Şevval Erdağ – Hamas’s political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated at his residence in the suburb of Tehran on Wednesday, a day after he attended the inauguration of Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran.
Hamas confirmed Ismail Haniyeh’s death in a statement that said: “the head of the movement died in a Zionist strike on his residence in Tehran.”
Haniyeh, normally based in Qatar, has been the face of the Palestinian resistance group’s international diplomacy since Israel attacked Palestinian enclave of Gaza on October 7.
He was also playing a central role in talks between Hamas and Israel that are being mediated by international actors to end the war in which Israel has killed more than 39,000 people.
Haniyeh lost about 60 members of his family who had been killed since Israel’s war on Gaza started on October 7.
A few months back, the Israeli military killed three of Haniyeh’s sons and four of his grandchildren in Gaza.
Haniyeh had denied Israeli assertions that his sons were fighters for the group and said, “The interests of the Palestinian people are placed ahead of everything” when asked if their killing would impact truce talks.
“If the criminal enemy thinks that targeting my family will make us change our position and affect our resistance, then he is deluding himself because every martyr in Gaza and Palestine is from my family,” Haniyeh said.
“The blood of our martyrs demands that we do not compromise, that we do not change, that we do not weaken, but that we continue on our path with determination.”
Funeral of Ismail Haniyeh to be held in Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab mosque in Doha, Qatar’s capital on Friday. (TRTWorld)
Image: AA
