Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’ political wing, who has been residing in Qatar since 2019, was assassinated earlier this week in an airstrike by Israel at a house in Tehran. He was in the Iranian capital to attend the inauguration of the new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. He was killed hours after he met Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and is the senior-most Hamas leader to be killed since the Gaza War began following the 7 October terror attack on Israel.
Haniyeh was in charge of Hamas’ international relations and was playing a key role in the hostage negotiations and ceasefire talks, which included indirect contacts with Egypt, Qatar, the United States, and even Israel. Besides, he maintained ties with other Palestinian groups and friendly governments in the region as well like Iran, Qatar, and Turkiye. In this sense, he was the international face of Hamas.
Just hours before the attack on Haniyeh, Israel carried out another air strike in Lebanon's capital Beirut and killed a top Hezbollah commander named Fuad Shukr, as revenge for the earlier rocket attack that led to 12 young people being killed in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.