The leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh was targeted by Israel in a missile attack in Tehran and brutally killed.

Hamas announced the news with the statement “Brother, leader, mujahid Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the movement, died in a Zionist strike on his headquarters in Tehran after he participated in the inauguration of the new (Iranian) president,” Iran’s Revolutionary Guard confirmed the death and vowed revenge on Israel.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Israel had provided the grounds for “harsh punishment for itself” and it was Tehran’s duty to avenge the Hamas leader’s death as it had occurred in the Iranian capital.

Iranian forces had already made strikes directly on Israel earlier in the Gaza war.

Haniyeh, normally based in Qatar, has been the face of Hamas’s 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 talks on reaching a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave.

Hamas’ armed wing said in a statement Haniyeh’s killing would “take the battle to new dimensions and have major repercussions”, while Iran declared three days of national mourning and vowed to retaliate.

The assassination, which took place less than 24 hours after Israel claimed to have killed the Hezbollah commander it said was behind a deadly strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, appears to set back chances of any imminent ceasefire agreement in the 10-month-old war Ghaza.

Haniyeh was relatively wealthy according to Palestinian standards and........

© Pakistan Observer