Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh killed in Iran, terror group vows revenge: ‘willing to pay different prices’

A senior Hamas leader has been killed in a targeted attack in Tehran, with the terror group now vowing revenge for his death.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, was killed during the inauguration ceremony of Iran’s new president.

Their statement said Haniyeh was killed along with a guard in a targeted attack on their hometown.

Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’s political bureau, was in the capital as Masoud Pezeshkian was sworn in as president of the country.

In a statement, Hamas blamed Israeli forces for Haniyeh’s death and announced his death to “the Palestinian people and the Arab nation.”

Hamas officials have now also made it clear that Haniyeh’s death “will not be in vain,” but they are “prepared to pay different prices.”

The Supreme Leader of the Palestinian group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, speaks during a press conference in Tehran, Iran, March 26, 2024

Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’ political bureau, was in the capital when Masoud Pezeshkian was sworn in as the country’s president

Musa Abu Marzouk, a member of the group’s political bureau, told CNN that Haniyeh’s killing “will not be in vain.”

Marzouk said: ‘The assassination of leader Ismail Haniyeh was a cowardly act and will not have been in vain.’

Sami Abu Zuhri, another Hamas official, added: “We are engaged in an open war to liberate Jerusalem and we are prepared to pay different prices.”

In response to the group’s claim that his death was the result of an Israeli raid, the Israeli military said it “does not comment on foreign media reports.”

Meanwhile, there was no immediate response from the White House to Haniyeh’s death.

Iran planned to hold an emergency meeting of its Supreme National Security Council, according to The New York Times.

Israel had vowed to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders over the group’s October 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and took about 250 hostage.

Earlier this year, at least ten of Haniyeh’s relatives were killed in an Israeli airstrike, including his sister.

The attack last month hit the Haniyeh family’s home in the Al-Shati refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.

Photos show the building in ruins as rescue workers arrive at the scene.

The victims were pulled from the water and taken to the local hospital, where white body bags were laid out on the ground and desperate people were seen gathering.

The attack came just weeks after Haniyeh lost three sons and four grandchildren in an Israeli airstrike on their car nearby.

Before their deaths, Haniyeh was said to have had 13 sons and daughters. The Qatar-based Hamas leader said at the time that about 60 members of his family had been killed since the war with Israel broke out on October 7.

Haniyeh, center, reflects on a victory after the conclusion of the swearing-in ceremony of newly elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday – just hours before he was assassinated

A man stands in the rubble of Ismail Haniyeh’s sister’s house after it was razed to the ground by Israeli bombardment

The bodies of ten people, including Haniyeh’s sister, are taken to al-Ahli Baptist Hospital after the Israeli attack on the Al-Shati refugee camp

Haniyeh is widely regarded as the leader of Hamas and has been a prominent member of the movement since 1980.

He also briefly served as prime minister of Palestine after being appointed in 2006, but was dismissed a year later after Hamas ousted its rival Fatah party.

Haniyeh was elected head of Hamas’ political bureau in 2017 and was designated a terrorist by the U.S. State Department in 2018. He has been living in Qatar for the past few years.

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement about his death: “This assassination by the Israeli occupation of Brother Haniyeh is a serious escalation aimed at breaking the will of Hamas and the will of our people and achieving false goals. We affirm that this escalation will not succeed in achieving its goals.

‘Hamas is a concept and an institution, not people.

“Hamas will continue on this path regardless of the sacrifices it makes, and we are confident that we will achieve victory.”

Since the October 7 attack, more than 39,360 Palestinians have been killed and more than 90,900 wounded, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.

The assassination attempt comes at an uncertain time as the Biden administration tries to persuade Hamas and Israel to agree to at least a temporary ceasefire and a deal to release the hostages.

It also follows a strike by US forces in Iraq on Tuesday in self-defense, after tensions rose after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut killed Hezbollah’s top commander.

The attack in Iraq hit a base south of Baghdad used by the Iranian Popular Mobilization Forces, killing four members of the group and wounding four others.

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States carried out an airstrike in Musayib, located in Babil province, but gave no further details.

Tuesday’s action was the first known U.S. strike in Iraq since February, when the U.S. military carried out airstrikes in Iraq and Syria.

File photo of festival-goers fleeing as Hamas gunmen storm the Nova music festival on October 7 last year. People fled in their cars and on foot. Many were killed

The destroyed top floors of an eight-story building in Beirut, hit by an Israeli strike that targeted a senior Hezbollah commander

Portraits of the children and young people who were killed two days ago hang on the fence of the football stadium where a rocket hit, in the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

As Israel attacked a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut, it cost the life of Fuad Shukr.

The attack was in direct retaliation for rocket attacks from Lebanon that killed twelve children over the weekend.

The U.S. Treasury Department has placed a $5 million bounty on Shukr’s head, describing him as a “senior adviser” to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who played a “central role” in the deadly 1983 bombing of a U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Wednesday that three people, including two children, were killed and 74 wounded in the attack, a higher toll than previously reported.

Minutes after the explosions rocked Beirut, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant posted on the social media site X that “Hezbollah had crossed the red line.”

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned what he called “blatant Israeli aggression.”