Hamas’ armed wing has said in a statement Islamail Haniyeh’s killing would “take the battle to new dimensions and have major repercussions”. Iran and the Palestinian Islamist militant group have accused Israel of carrying out the strike that killed Haniyeh hours after he attended the inauguration of Iran’s new president in Tehran on Wednesday.
But Israeli officials have not claimed responsibility for the attack that drew threats of revenge on Israel and fuelled further concern that the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza was turning into an all-out war in the Middle East.
Also vowing to retaliate, Iran declared three days of national mourning on Wednesday and said the U.S. bore responsibility because of its support for Israel. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel had provided the grounds for “harsh punishment for itself” and it was Tehran’s duty to avenge Haniyeh’s death. Iranian forces have already made strikes directly on Israel earlier in the Gaza war.
Haniyeh was killed by a missile that hit him “directly” in a state guesthouse where he was staying, senior Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya told a news conference in Tehran, quoting witnesses who were with Haniyeh.
Haniyeh, normally based in Qatar, had been the face of Hamas’ international diplomacy as the war set off by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7 has raged in Gaza. He had been taking part in internationally brokered indirect talks on reaching a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave.
Netanyahu made no mention of Haniyeh’s killing in a televised statement on Wednesday evening but said Israel had delivered crushing blows to Iran’s proxies of late, including Hamas and Hezbollah, and would respond forcefully to any attack.
“We are prepared for any scenario and we will stand united and determined against any threat. Israel will exact a heavy price for any aggression against us from any arena,” he said.
The latest events appear to set back chances of any imminent ceasefire agreement in the nearly 10-month-old war in Gaza between Israel and the Iran-backed Hamas.
“All fronts of the Resistance will take revenge for Haniyeh’s blood,” Ali Akbar Ahmadian, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, told Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency.
Haniyeh’s most likely successor is Khaled Meshaal, his deputy-in-exile who lives in Qatar, analysts and Hamas officials said.
The so called Axis of Resistance includes Hamas, the Palestinian group that ignited the war in Gaza by attacking Israel on Oct. 7, the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, the Houthi movement in Yemen and various Shi’ite armed groups in Iraq and Syria.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on a diplomatic tour in Asia, said a ceasefire deal in Gaza was key to avoiding wider regional escalation.
The region is facing a high risk of widened conflict between Israel, Iran and its proxies after Haniyeh’s assassination early Wednesday and the killing of a Hezbollah’s senior commander on Tuesday in an Israeli strike on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital Beirut.
On April 13, Iran launched a barrage of missiles and drones at Israel in what it said was retaliation for Israel’s suspected deadly strike on its embassy compound in Damascus on April 1, but almost all were shot down.
