Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh martyred in Israeli missile hit in Iran

Hamas said Wednesday its political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was martyred in an Israeli strike in Iran, where he had been attending the inauguration of the country's new president.

Haniyeh's killing came after Israel on Tuesday struck a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut, killing a senior commander of the Iran-backed group it said was responsible for a weekend rocket attack on the Israel-annexed Golan Heights.

"Brother, leader, mujahid Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the movement, died in a Zionist strike on his headquarters in Tehran after he participated in the inauguration of the new (Iranian) president," the Palestinian group said in a statement.

Senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu said it was a "direct targeting" of Haniyeh at his residence in the Iranian capital. "The method used (for the killing) will be determined by our Iranian counterparts who are conducting investigations," Nunu said in a statement.

"The occupation (Israel) is responsible for this attack and the United States also bears responsibility as well."

Haniyeh's son, Abdul Salam Ismail Haniyeh, said his father had "achieved what he wished for". "We are in a state of continuous revolution and struggle against the occupation," he said in a statement.

"The resistance will not end with the assassination of the leadership, and Hamas will continue to resist until liberation."

Burial in Doha on Friday after Tehran funeral ceremony

The burial of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh is to be held in Doha on Friday a day after a public funeral ceremony in Tehran, the Palestinian group said Wednesday.

Haniyeh "will be given an official and public funeral ceremony in the Iranian capital, Tehran, tomorrow," Hamas said in a statement, explaining his body would be transported to the Qatari capital later the same day.

It said funeral prayers will be held the at Imam Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab Mosque, Doha's largest mosque, after Friday prayers, with the burial carried out at a cemetery in Lusail, north of the Qatari capital.

The Hamas statement added the ceremony in Doha would be held "with popular and factional attendance and the participation of Arab and Islamic leaders".

Iran media say Hamas chief killed by missile hit

Iranian media said Wednesday that Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed by an air strike in Tehran where he was attending the inauguration of Iran's new president.

"Haniyeh, who had come to Iran for the inauguration ceremony of the president, was staying in one of the special residences for war veterans in north Tehran, when he was martyred by an air-launched missile," the Fars news agency said. Other media carried the same statement.

It was a guided missile, Saudi media says

The assassination of senior Hamas figure Ismail Haniyeh was carried out by a guided missile targeting his private residence in Tehran, sources from Saudi outlet Al Hadath say.

The news outlet reports the missile hit the building at around 2:00 local time (23:30 GMT) - something that Iran state media also says.

Fars news, which is affiliated with Iran's Revolutionary Guard, also says Haniyeh was stationed in a residence for veterans in the north of Tehran, and that he was killed by "a projectile from the air".

Iran's Revolutionary Guards also announced the death, saying Haniyeh's residence in Tehran was "hit" and he was killed along with a bodyguard.

"The residence of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political office of Hamas Islamic Resistance, was hit in Tehran, and as a result of this incident, him and one of his bodyguards were martyred," said a statement by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps's Sepah news website.

The Guards said the cause of the incident was not immediately clear but it was "being investigated."

Haniyeh had travelled to Tehran to attend Tuesday's swearing-in ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

The Israeli army declined to comment on foreign media reports.

Iran declares three days of mourning

Iran declared Wednesday three days of mourning following the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in an attack blamed on arch-foe Israel.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran announced three days of public mourning following the martyrdom of Ismail Haniyeh," the government said in a statement.

Israel carrying out 'situation assessment'

There was no direct response from Israel yet to Haniyeh's death but Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), said that "there are no changes in the home defence policy".

In a post on X, he wrote: "At this time, the IDF is conducting a situation assessment. If any changes are decided, we will update the public immediately."

Other assassinations Israel carried out in Iran

Israel and Iran have long been engaged in a shadow war - often attacking each other without admitting responsibility. But Iran believes Israel has also carried out several targeted assassinations on its soil.

Some of the most notable cases include the killing of Iran’s top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh by a remote-controlled weapon in 2021, and the shooting of a Commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Col. Sayad Khodai, in Tehran in May 2022.

- 'Axis of resistance' -

Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas and bring back all hostages taken during the October 7 attack, which sparked the war in the Gaza Strip.

The attack launched by Hamas on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Militants also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,400 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, which does not provide details on civilian and militant deaths.

Regional tensions have soared since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October, drawing in Iran-backed militant groups in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

Haniyeh was elected head of the Hamas political bureau in 2017 to succeed Khaled Meshaal.

He was already a well-known figure having become Palestinian prime minister in 2006 following an upset victory by Hamas in that year's parliamentary election.

Considered a pragmatist, Haniyeh lived in exile and split his time between Turkey and Qatar.

He had travelled on diplomatic missions to Iran and Turkey during the war, meeting both the Turkish and Iranian presidents.

Haniyeh was said to maintain good relations with the heads of the various Palestinian factions, including rivals to Hamas.

He joined Hamas in 1987 when the militant group was founded amid the outbreak of the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation, which lasted until 1993.

Hamas is part of the "axis of resistance", Tehran-aligned groups such Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Huthis in Yemen arrayed against arch-foe Israel.

Iran has made support for the Palestinian cause a centrepiece of its foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

It has hailed Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel but denied any involvement.

Palestinian factions call for unity

Palestinian factions called for unity and a general strike on Wednesday to protest the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in an air strike in Tehran.

"The national and Islamic factions in Palestine announce a comprehensive strike and anger marches to (protest) the assassination of the great national leader Ismail Haniyeh, which came in the framework of Zionist state terrorism and its war of extermination," the Palestinian factions in the occupied West Bank said in a joint statement.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said in a statement that he "condemns the assassination of leader Haniyeh and calls on our people and their forces to unite and stand firm".

In an unusual display of solidarity with his main political rival, Abbas called for a day of mourning for the man he had named prime minister in 2006 and dismissed in 2007. Flags are to be flown at half-mast.

The prime minister's office in Ramallah condemned "the treacherous assassination" of Haniyeh, and called on Palestinians to remain united "in the face of the (Israeli) occupation".

AFP journalists in Ramallah reported that employees of government ministries left their offices in response to the strike call.

Shops closed and employees left work in several cities in the occupied West Bank, while cultural institutions announced they would remain closed.