TEHRAN: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has been assassinated in an attack in the Iranian capital, Tehran, Iranian media reported on Wednesday.
According to Press TV, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Wednesday morning that Ismail Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were killed when their house was hit in Tehran.
According to Press TV, the attack is under probe and the results will be announced later. Ismail Haniyeh was in Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of the Iranian president-elect Masoud Pezeshkian.
On the other hand, in a statement, Hamas confirmed that Ismail Haniyeh has been martyred in Tehran.
The Islamist faction mourned the death of Ismail Haniyeh, who it said was martyred in “a treacherous Zionist attack on his residence in Tehran. The statement said, ” Leader, Brother, mujahid Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the movement, passed away in a Zionist attack on his headquarters in Tehran following he participated in the inauguration of the new president of Iran”.
Hamas Leader Haniyeh to be Buried in Doha: Report
Iranian media cited sources as saying that the funeral of martyr Ismail Haniyeh will be offered in Doha on Friday. According to media reports, the people of Tehran will hold a rally on Wednesday in Tehran’s Palestine Square at 5:00 PM local time after the martyrdom of Ismail Haniyeh.
On the other hand, Hamas confirmed in a statement that an “official and public” funeral ceremony would be held in Tehran on Thursday before his body is shifted to Doha for a Friday burial of “the martyr leader of the movement”.
Who was Ismail Haniyeh?
On May 6, 2017, Hamas that rules Gaza Strip, elected Ismail Abdulsalam Ahmed Haniya, as the head of the group’s political bureau, replacing Khaled Meshaal.
Ismail was born in the Shati refugee camp in the Gaza Strip to parents who fled from the city of Asqalan following Israel was created in 1948, Ismail Haniya studied at the al-Azhar Institute in Gaza. He graduated with a degree in Arabic literature from the Islamic University in Gaza. While at university in 1983, he joined the Islamic Student alliance, a precursor to Hamas.
Ismail Haniyeh climbed the ranks within Hamas as a close aide to Hamas’ cofounder, the late Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, in 1997. Earlier this year an Israeli strike killed three of his sons in northern Gaza.
