IDF also killed senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut hours earlier.

Iranian media reports said on 31 July, Wednesday, that the chairman of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, has been assassinated in Tehran, Iran’s capital.

In a statement, Hamas confirmed the death of his political leader and vowed to seek revenge.

Haniyeh’s assassination occurred just hours after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed to have killed a high-ranking commander of Hezbollah, another Palestinian terrorist organization at war with Israel. Fuad Shukr (also Fouad Shukar) was terminated hours earlier in an airstrike on Beirut.

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No details about the operation in Tehran were immediately available, as the IDF has not commented yet on his death. Hamas in turn described Haniyeh's death as the result of “a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran.” A rocket hit the house where Haniyeh spent the night.

Haniyeh, a top figure in Hamas for nearly two decades, was in Iran for the presidential inauguration and coordinated efforts to negotiate a ceasefire with Israel. Three of his sons were killed in an Israeli airstrike in April this tear.

Since the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,200 Israelis and the capture of around 250 hostages, Israeli leaders have pledged retribution against Hamas officials. In the ensuing ten months, Israeli airstrikes and ground operations are believed to have killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians.

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In the past, Israel conducted several high-profile assassinations, including the 2004 airstrike in Gaza that killed Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi. The same year, the Israelis terminated Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin in Gaza City.

The assassination of Shukr was a response for a 27 July rocket attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday, which struck a football field and killed 12 people, including children. The Hesbollah commander was in charge with the Saturday attack.

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