Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh spent his final hours attending the inauguration of new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian at a ceremony in Tehran before being mercilessly assassinated in a suspected Israeli missile strike.
The 62-year-old Hamas political leader was seen making the peace sign and smiling as he mingled with Iranian dignitaries at the swearing-in ceremony yesterday.
He then shared a meeting with Pezeshkian — his first and only official conversation with the new president before he was assassinated — as well as Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, who has since vowed to avenge Haniyeh.
Video footage captured the moment Haniyeh spoke to Pezeshkian as the two shared a hug on camera in a strong sign of the Islamic Republic’s enduring ties with the Palestinian group.
After his meetings, Haniyeh was escorted by guards to his accommodation, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) residence in the capital, where he was reportedly staying alongside Palestinian Islamic Jihad Secretary-General Ziyad Nakhalah, Hamas sources told Saudi outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
Sitting in an IRGC safe house, surrounded by guards in the Iranian capital, Haniyeh probably felt completely safe, without having the slightest idea of his fate.
The Israel Defense Forces are believed to have carried out a daring overnight missile attack on the building, killing the Hamas leader as he slept in his bed, although Nakhalah is said to have escaped the blast.
Video footage captured the moment Haniyeh spoke with Iran’s new President Masoud Pezeshkian as the two shared a hug in front of cameras.
In this photo released by Iran’s Presidential Office, President Masoud Pezeshkian, right, shakes hands with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh at the start of their meeting at the president’s office in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (Iranian Presidential Office via AP)
Top Palestinian Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh attends the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s new president Masoud Pezeshkian at parliament in Tehran
Hours from death: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei meets with Ismail Haniyeh (L) ahead of Israel’s deadly strike against the Hamas leader in Tehran, Iran, July 30, 2024
The killing of Haniyeh, confirmed by both Hamas and Iranian authorities, marks the highest-profile assassination since Oct. 7 and could prove a turning point in the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group.
It has also raised fears that Hamas’s regional allies — Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthi rebels in Yemen — could try to strike back at Israel, further spreading violence in the region.
“Brother leader Mujahid Ismail Haniyeh, head of the movement, was killed in a Zionist attack on his residence in Tehran after participating in the inauguration of the new (Iranian) president,” Hamas said in a statement.
Musa Abu Marzuk, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, vowed: “The assassination of leader Ismail Haniyeh is a cowardly act and will not go unanswered.”‘
Iran’s National Security Council said today that “the elimination of Haniyeh crossed the red lines, Israel will pay a heavy price,” while Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei declared that it was “Iran’s duty to avenge” Haniyeh because “he was martyred on our soil.”
The assassination of the Hamas chief in an IRGC residence in the capital is a humiliating blow for the Islamic Republic and is likely to precipitate harsh retaliation.
Iran had already sent a barrage of missiles and drones to attack Israel earlier this year after Tel Aviv attacked the Iranian embassy in Syria in April.
Meanwhile, international observers have sounded the alarm that Hamas could pull out of months of negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza as the Palestinian death toll approaches 40,000.
Haniyeh’s death makes him the latest and most senior Hamas official to be killed by Israel since the Hamas-led attacks of October 7.
At least ten members of Haniyeh’s family, including his sister, were killed in an Israeli airstrike earlier this year.
The attack hit the home of the Haniyeh family in the Al-Shati refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip last month.
That attack came just weeks after Haniyeh lost three children and four grandchildren in an Israeli airstrike on his car nearby.
Haniyeh is believed to have had 13 sons and daughters before he died. The Qatar-based Hamas leader said at the time that some 60 members of his family had been killed since the war with Israel broke out on October 7.
Haniyeh is seen meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the day of her assassination.
After his meetings, Haniyeh was escorted by guards to his accommodation: a residence of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps in the capital.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad chief Ziad al-Nakhala and top Palestinian Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh attend the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s new President Masoud Pezeshkian at the Parliament in Tehran, Iran, July 30, 2024.
The Israel Defense Forces seized the opportunity to target Haniyeh, carrying out a daring missile attack on his residence in Tehran just hours after the incident, killing the Hamas leader and a security guard.
Although Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, is widely believed to have masterminded the attacks, Haniyeh, seen as a more pragmatic force in Hamas, hailed them as a humiliating blow to Israel’s aura of invincibility.
“The Al-Aqsa flood was an earthquake that struck the heart of the Zionist entity and brought about great changes globally,” Haniyeh said in a speech in Iran during the funeral of late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in May.
“We will continue to resist against this enemy until we liberate our land, all of our land,” Haniyeh said.
Israel had vowed to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders over the group’s Oct. 7 attacks, and Mossad chief David Barnea said in January that Israel was “committed to settling accounts with the murderers who invaded the Gaza area.”
But Haniyeh had vowed to fight Israel to the end, and a Hamas statement quoted him as saying that the Palestinian cause has “costs” and “we are ready for those costs: martyrdom for the sake of Palestine, and for the sake of God Almighty, and for the sake of the dignity of this nation.”
Haniyeh was also under the scrutiny of the International Criminal Court, whose chief prosecutor sought arrest warrants against him and two other Hamas leaders, Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Similar requests were made for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Haniyeh had been living in self-imposed exile in Qatar since 2019, but threats against him did not stop him from traveling.
He was said to have maintained good relations with the heads of various Palestinian factions – including Hamas rivals – to consolidate Hamas’s power base in Gaza, and was the group’s international face, travelling from Doha to Tehran and Ankara to maintain strong ties with its regional allies.