Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh killed in Tehran: Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirms

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Wednesday that Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an attack in the Iranian capital, Tehran, Press TV reported.

In a statement carried by the Mehr news agency, the IRGC said that Ismail Haniyeh and one of his/her bodyguards were killed when his/her residence in Tehran was targeted.

“With condolences to the heroic nation of Palestine and the Islamic nation and the fighters of the Resistance Front and the great nation of Iran, this morning (Wednesday) the residence of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political office of the Islamic Resistance of Hamas, was attacked in Tehran and following the incident, he/she and one of his/her bodyguards were martyred,” the statement said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Sayyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei held a meeting with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh. Khamenei shared photos of his/her meeting with Haniyeh on the social media platform X.

In a post on Twitter, Khamenei’s office said, “Imam Khamenei met with Mr. Ismail Haniyeh, Head of the Political Bureau of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas, and Mr. Ziad al-Nakhlah, Secretary General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement.”

In response to this post, the Israel Defense Forces wrote, “Did anyone ask to be photographed with Iran and their proxy leaders? Iran’s Khamenei met with Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and Ziad-al Nakhlah of Islamic Jihad – two terrorist organizations that are attempting to kill Israelis using weapons created and funded by Iran. We can only assume that conversation topics included how to spend more Iranian money to kill Israelis, while also including Hezbollah’s Nasrallah’s desire to join them.”

Ismail Haniyeh, who lives in Qatar, was in Tehran to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s newly elected President Masoud Pezeshkian, Press TV reported.

In early April, three sons of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh were killed in an airstrike carried out by the Israeli Air Force on Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported. The three sons of the Hamas leader, whose deaths were confirmed by the Israeli military, were identified as Amir Haniyeh, a cell commander in the Hamas military unit, and Mohammed and Hazem Haniyeh.

On 10 April the IDF said in a post on X, “IAF aircraft today attacked Amir Haniyeh, a cell commander of the Hamas military wing, and two Hamas military activists, Mohammad and Hazem Haniyeh, in central Gaza. The IDF has confirmed that the three activists are the sons of Hamas Political Bureau chairman Ismail Haniyeh.”

Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces also announced they had killed Fuad Shukr “Sayyed Muhsan”, Hezbollah’s most senior military commander. According to the IDF, Shukr was the right-hand man of Hezbollah commander Hassan Nasrallah and directed Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel. The IDF said he/she had previously been responsible for the killing of 12 children in Majdal Shams in northern Israel, as well as numerous Israeli and foreign civilians in recent years. The IDF said Shukr was also responsible for most of Hezbollah’s advanced weapons, including precision-guided missiles, cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles, long-range rockets and UAVs.