Two of the right-wing nationalist Israeli ministers have expressed satisfaction at the death of top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
“Haniyeh’s death makes the world a little better,” Minister of Heritage of Israel Amichay Eliyahu wrote on the platform X.
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli posted a picture of Haniyeh at an assembly where the “death of Israel” had been demanded. “Be careful what you wish for,” he wrote in the caption.
There were initially no official statements from the Israeli government or military regarding Haniyeh’s killing in an attack on his estate in Tehran. Hamas has blamed Israel for the attack.
Haniyeh had been in Tehran for the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and was staying in a residence for veterans in the north of the city, state-affiliated news outlet Fars reported.
At around 2 a.m. local time, an “airborne guided projectile” targeted where Haniyeh was staying, according to Iranian state-run outlet IRNA which said his bodyguard was also killed.
IRNA said further investigations are underway to determine the details of the operation and the position from where the projectile was fired.
Shortly afterward, Hamas decried what it called a “Zionist strike” and a “grave escalation” in its decades long conflict with Israel.
READ ALSO: Israeli strike kills Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran
One Hamas official said the group is “ready to pay various prices” and that the “moment of truth has come,” adding: “This assassination will not achieve the goals of the occupation and will not push Hamas to surrender.”
On Wednesday, Pezeshkian vowed to make Israel “regret” Haniyeh’s killing.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will defend its territorial integrity, honour, pride and dignity, and make the terrorist invaders regret their cowardly action,” Pezeshkian said in a post.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas condemned Haniyeh’s killing as a “cowardly act”. Palestinians factions in the Israeli-occupied West Bank called for a general strike and protest marches across the territory.
Iran ally Syria warned the strike could “set the region ablaze”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the “perfidious assassination” of the Hamas leader.
Russia said it was a “completely unacceptable political assassination” that would “lead to a further escalation of tensions.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas in retaliation for its October 7 attacks on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.
The attacks resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign against Hamas has killed at least 39,400 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which does not provide details on civilian and militant deaths.
Regional tensions have soared during the war, drawing in Iran-backed militant groups in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.
Haniyeh was elected head of the Hamas political bureau in 2017 to succeed Khaled Meshaal.
He was already a well-known figure having become Palestinian prime minister in 2006 following an upset victory by Hamas in that year’s parliamentary election.
Considered a pragmatist, Haniyeh lived in exile and split his time between Turkey and Qatar.
He had travelled on diplomatic missions to Iran and Turkey during the war, meeting both the Turkish and Iranian presidents.
Haniyeh was said to maintain good relations with the heads of the various Palestinian factions, including rivals to Hamas.
He joined Hamas in 1987 when the militant group was founded amid the outbreak of the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation, which lasted until 1993.
Hamas is part of the “axis of resistance” of Iran-backed armed groups around the Middle East arrayed against arch-foe Israel.
Iran has made support for the Palestinian cause a center-piece of its foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
It hailed Hamas’s October 7 attacks but denied any involvement.
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