RIYADH: The leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, has been killed in Iran, the Palestinian group said.
Iranian state television announced the killing on Wednesday morning.
A statement by Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Haniyeh and a bodyguard were attacked in their residence, and an investigation is underway.
Haniyeh, who heads the political office of Hamas Islamic Resistance, traveled to Iran for the swearing-in of reformist president Masoud Pezeshkian.
The 62-year-old Palestinian leader met with Pezeshkian and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas official, said: “This Israeli killing of Brother Haniyeh is a major escalation that aims to destroy the will of Hamas and the will of our people and achieve goals fake. We argue that this increase will not achieve its objective. “
“Hamas is an ideology and an institution, not a person. Hamas will continue on this path regardless of the sacrifice and we are confident of victory.”
Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi, the leader of Yemen's Houthis, said: “Targeting Ismail Haniyeh is a heinous terrorist crime and a flagrant violation of the law and the best values.”
Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas after the group carried out deadly attacks on towns outside the Gaza Strip on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking hostages back to the Palestinian territories.
Israel launched a devastating military offensive in Gaza and killed more than 40,000 people, mostly civilians.
Both sides have been trying to negotiate a hostage-release deal, which includes a ceasefire, with the help of the United States and regional mediators.
The killings come amid an escalation of conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah, which is accused of an attack on the Golan Heights, which killed 12 children at the weekend.
On Tuesday night, Israel struck a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Lebanon, killing Fuad Shukr, the head of Hezbollah's military operations, whom Israel said was responsible for the attack in the Golan Heights, a charge denied by the Lebanese group.
Israel, which has not yet commented on Haniyeh's killing, has previously carried out assassinations in Iran of key figures in the Islamic republic's nuclear program.
In 2021, Israel assassinated Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iran's top nuclear scientist.
But since the war in Gaza, Israel has carried out attacks targeting prominent Hamas and IRGC figures, including Saleh Al-Arouri, the leader of the Palestinian group.
In April, Iran said its consulate in Damascus was destroyed and a top general was killed in an attack by Tehran on Israel.
Soon after, Iran fired a series of missiles at Israel, but they were all shot down. Israel attacked the position in Isfahan.
Escalation was averted through diplomacy, but Israel continued to attack Iran's allies in Syria.
The extent of Israel's military response to Hamas attacks has been condemned, with the International Court of Justice acknowledging that there may be cases of genocide.
Israel has also been accused of collective punishment and using starvation as a weapon in the war against militant groups.
