This blog is closing now, you can read our full report on the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukur here.
Two US airlines have suspended flights to Tel Aviv.
United Airlines, which also suspended flights in October after the Hamas attack on Israel and had only reinstated them in June, said it was suspending flights once again for security reasons, according to a statement cited by CBS News. It said:
Beginning with this evening’s flight from Newark Liberty to Tel Aviv, we are suspending for security reasons our daily Tel Aviv service as we evaluate our next steps. We continue to closely monitor the situation and will make decisions on resuming service with a focus on the safety of our customers and crews.
Delta Airlines meanwhile said it was suspending flights through to 2 August “due to ongoing conflict in the region”.
In Turkey, thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through the streets of central Istanbul late on Wednesday to protest Haniyeh’s killing, Reuters reported.
Protesters in Istanbul’s Fatih district held posters with Haniyeh’s photo, chanted “murderer Israel, get out of Palestine” and waved Turkish and Palestinian flags.
The assassination of Ismail Haniyeh has plunged Masoud Pezeshkhian, the newly inaugurated Iranian president, into a major crisis in his first days in office as he faces internal demands to respond to what amounts to a humiliating targeting of an ally while visiting Tehran to attend his own inauguration – even as he seeks better ties with the west.
Pezeshkhian vowed his country would “defend its territory” and make the attackers regret their action.
The choice of Tehran, as opposed to Qatar, where Haniyeh mainly resides, or Turkey which he regularly visited, is likely to be about more than just opportunity. It is also a chance to show to a global audience that the IRGC cannot defend its most prized political assets, even in its own capital.
Worse still, is the fact that Haniyeh was in Tehran with 110 other foreign delegations, including leaders of the supposed “axis of resistance”, to attend Pezeshkian’s inauguration, underlining to others how little protection the IRGC can, in practice, provide to its dearest diplomatic allies.
Pezeshkian, who is in the midst of forming a reformist cabinet, was elected partly on a strategy of building better relations with the west, as a way of boosting the ailing Iranian economy and lifting economic sanctions, but that already internally controversial strategy now looks harder to follow.
Read on below:
Summary of the day so far
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has been killed, according to Hamas and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Israel has yet to make any comment on Haniyeh’s killing but in its statement, Hamas accused Israel of the attack.
A funeral for Haniyeh will be held in Tehran on Thursday and then his body will be transferred to Qatar’s capital Doha for prayers and burial, Hamas said. Iran’s state media has announced that there will be three days of national mourning in the country for Haniyeh.
The Hamas statement said the group mourned Haniyeh “who died as a result of a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran, after participating in the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian president”.
Hamas’s deputy chief in Gaza, Khalil Al-Hayya, said Hamas and Iran do not want a regional war, but there is a crime that should be punished. The comment came from a press conference in Tehran after the killing of the Palestinian group’s chief Ismail Haniyeh.
An Israeli government spokesperson has said that Israel is not commenting on the death of Haniyeh. “We are not commenting on that particular incident,” spokesperson David Mencer told a briefing with journalists on Wednesday.
Avenging Haniyeh’s assassination is “Tehran’s duty” because it occurred in the Iranian capital, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said. Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said the country will “defend its territorial integrity, dignity, honor, and pride, and will make the terrorist occupiers regret their cowardly act”.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Haniyeh had been targeted in his residence along with an Iranian bodyguard. It said he had been in Iran to attend the inauguration of president Masoud Pezeshkian and that the circumstances of the “incident” was being investigated.
Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk said Haniyeh’s death was a “cowardly act that will not go unpunished”, according to al-Aqsa TV. Another Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri has told Reuters that the killing is a grave escalation that will not achieve its goals.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said the US was not involved in or made aware of the assassination of Haniyeh. “This is something we were not aware of or involved in. It’s very hard to speculate,” Blinken said in an interview with Channel News Asia during a visit to Singapore.
Haniyeh’s death came just hours after Israel claimed it killed Hezbollah’s top military commander, Fuad Shukur, in an airstrike on a south Beirut suburb launched in retaliation for a rocket attack that killed 12 children at the weekend. Hezbollah confirmed on Wednesday that Shukur was killed in an Israeli strike.
Lebanon’s armed group Hezbollah issued its condolences on Wednesday after Haniyeh’s death. Hezbollah did not specifically accuse Israel but said it would make Iran-aligned groups more determined to confront Israel.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has strongly condemned the killing, Palestinian state news agency Wafa reported. Palestinian national and Islamic factions have also called for a general strike and mass demonstrations in response to the assassination.
Qatar’s foreign ministry called the killing a “heinous crime” and “shameful assassination”. Turkey echoed the condemnation. Egypt said Israeli escalation indicated a lack of political will from Israel for de-escalation, after the killing of Haniyeh in Tehran. Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim said he condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the assassination of Haniyeh, calling him a “valiant advocate for his people”.
The UN security council is holding an emergency meeting in efforts to keep tensions in the region from boiling over. UN chief António Guterres said the airstrikes in Tehran and Beirut were “a dangerous escalation”.
Although Israel has not formally commented on Haniyeh’s killing, several Israeli ministers reacted on social media. The heritage minister, Amichay Eliyahu, celebrated his killing, writing on Twitter/X: “Haniyeh’s death makes the world a little better” and that this is the “right way to clean the world from this filth”. Shlomo Karhi, minister of communications, wrote on X: “Yes, all your enemies will perish, O God”, although the post appeared later to have been deleted. Amichai Chikli, minister of diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism, posted a video of the Hamas leader on X with the caption: “Careful What You Wish For”.
Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel will “make anyone who is against us pay a very heavy price.” The Israeli prime minister did not mention Haniyeh’s killing, but said his country is “prepared for any scenario” and stands “determined against any threat”.
Al Jazeera said two of its journalists have been killed in an attack on the Gaza Strip. The Qatar-based broadcaster has named them as Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Ismail al-Ghoul and his cameraman Rami al-Rifee. It has not shared any further information.
The UK’s foreign minister, David Lammy, and defence minister, John Healey, travelled to Qatar to help drive efforts to end the conflict in Gaza and call for de-escalation in the wider region, the UK government said on Wednesday.
The Australian foreign minister, Penny Wong, has warned about the risk of escalation in the Middle East and urged Australians to leave Lebanon. In a video message, Wong said: “Now is not the time for Australians in the region to wait and see what happens. Now is the time to leave.”
The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has advised against all travel to Lebanon. In a social media post on Wednesday, the FCDO also advised any British nationals in Lebanon to register their presence on Gov.uk.
Updated
Israel’s representative to the UN says there has been a “rank hypocrisy” within the security council today.
He notes that just last week, 12 children were killed in a rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Where were the condemnations of Hezbollah and their Iranian suppliers for the butchery of these 12 children?
He says Israel carried out a “precise” strike against the senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukur, who he described as a “senior terrorist with the blood of Israelis and many others on his hands”.
Israel “will not stand idly by” but it will “respond with great force against those who harm us”, he says.
Updated
The Palestinian representative for the UN, addressing the security council, says it has been nearly 300 days since the start of the war in Gaza.
She accuses Israel of waging a “genocidal” war on the Palestinian people that has “breached all tenets of international humanitarian and human rights law” and “threatens international peace and security”.
“Every day brings more horror, loss and suffering for our people,” she says.
On the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, she says the Palestinian leadership “condemns in the strongest terms” his assassination, and says today is a national day of mourning in Palestine.
The Palestinian leadership also condemn the “brazen” attack on Tuesday in Beirut, she says.
“Violence and terror are Israel’s main and only currency,” she says, adding:
There is no red line for Israel. No law it will not breach, no norm it will not trample. No act too depraved or too barbaric.
Iran’s representative to the UN accuses Israel of pursuing a political goal in its killing of Ismail Haniyeh by trying to disrupt the first day of the new government of Iran.
He says Iran condemns in the strongest possible terms this “horrible terrorist act” and “serious violation of international law”, and calls for the UN security council’s “immediate and effective action”.
He says the US’s responsibility as the “strategic ally and main supporter” of Israel cannot be overlooked, and says the killing of Haniyeh could not have taken place without the US’s authorization and intelligence support.
Iran’s representative to the UN, addressing the UN security council, says the assassination of Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, is a matter of “grave importance and urgency”.
Haniyeh was in Tehran on the official invitation of the Iranian government when he was targeted in his residence earlier today, he says, calling Haniyeh’s killing “the result of an aggressive act of terrorism” by Israel.
He says the killing is just another manifestation of Israel’s patterns of “terrorism and sabotage” targeting Palestinians and supporters of the Palestinian cause.
US 'not aware of or involved in' Haniyeh killing, says US ambassador to UN
The US was not aware of or involved in the apparent killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, says the US representative to the UN, Robert Wood.
Wood calls on UN security council members with direct influence over Iran to increase pressure on the country to “stop escalating its proxy conflict against Israel”.
Every member of this council should call on Iran to stop arming, advising and financing terrorist groups and to rein in the actions of proxies and partners who threaten regional peace and security.
Wood warns that it is a “dangerous” moment, and that it is “imperative” for members to work together to reduce tensions in the region.
Updated
The US representative to the UN begins his remarks to the UN security council by saying that Israel “has a right to defend itself against Hezbollah and other terrorists”.
The US was not involved in Israel’s strike on Beirut on Tuesday which killed Hezbollah’s most senior commander, Fuad Shukur, he says.
He calls on the UN security council to send an “unambiguous message to Hezbollah by standing with Israel as it defends itself against Hezbollah’s repeated attacks”.
He also notes that the Iranian-backed Houthis group have “taken advantage of the situation in Gaza to undermine regional peace and security”.
Updated
Algeria’s representative to the UN says today’s security council meeting takes place at a moment of “grave peril” and the world stands at the “precipice of catastrophe”.
Algeria extends its “sincerest condolences and sympathy” to the Palestinian people after the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, he says.
The killing of Haniyeh, which he blames on Israel, is “not merely an attack on one man” but the “vicious assault on the very foundations of diplomatic relations, the sanctity of state sovereignty and the principles that underpin our global order”, he says.
Updated
China’s representative to the UN says Beijing is “worried” about the exacerbation of the upheaval in the region.
China firmly opposes and strongly condemns the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, he says.
The UN under-secretary-general, Rosemary Anne DiCarlo, delivered opening remarks at the UN security council emergency meeting to discuss the “alarming” developments in the Middle East.
DiCarlo noted that the various recent attacks represent a “serious, dangerous” escalation, noting that the UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, had consistently called for “maximum restraint by all”.
She says she echoes the UN chief’s call “for all to vigorously work toward regional deescalation in the interest of long term peace and stability,” adding:
The international community must work together to prevent any actions that could make the conflict much bigger and wider very quickly. We need swift and effective diplomatic efforts towards deescalation.
Updated
UN security council to hold emergency meeting over Hamas chief killing
The UN security council is due to hold an emergency meeting following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh.
The meeting, requested by Iran and supported by representatives of Russia, China and Algeria, is scheduled to begin at 4pm ET.
Updated
Iran's leader orders retaliatory strike on Israel – report
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has ordered a direct strike on Israel in retaliation for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, according to a report.
Khamenei gave the order at an emergency meeting of Iran’s supreme national security council on Wednesday morning, the New York Times reported, citing Iranian officials.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images from the newswires of protesters and mourners from around the Middle East following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Updated
The US does not see an escalation of regional tensions as inevitable, the White House has said.
There are “no signs that an escalation is imminent”, the White House national security spokesperson, John Kirby, told reporters but added:
I’m not going to be Pollyannish about it – we’re obviously concerned about escalation.
Kirby said the White House could not confirm nor verify reports that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh had been killed in an Israeli strike.
Updated
Who are the Hamas and Hezbollah leaders killed since 7 October attack?
Below are some of the high-profile assassinations claimed by or attributed to Israel since 7 October.
31 October 2023: Ibrahim Biari – confirmed dead. The commander of Hamas’s central Jabaliya battalion, he oversaw all military operations in the northern Gaza Strip after the Israel Defense Forces began their campaign in the territory.
The attack on a crowded urban residential area, in the mid-afternoon, came without warning and killed at least 126 civilians, the Wall Street Journal reported.
25 December 2023: Razi Mousavi – confirmed dead. A high-ranking general in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Mousavi was responsible for coordinating the military alliance between Syria and Iran.
He was killed in an airstrike on his residence in Sayyidah Zaynab, a southern Damascus suburb.
2 January 2024: Saleh al-Arouri – confirmed dead. A senior Hamas leader, a founding commander of its military wing and regarded as the principal interlocutor between Hamas and Hezbollah.
He was killed in a missile strike on a Hamas office in a southern Beirut suburb, along with two other Hamas commanders.
A key figure in the group, seen as close to Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s leader in the Gaza Strip, he was influential in the West Bank where he was born and also an important figure in the group’s financial network. At the time, the most senior Hamas figure killed by Israel.
10 March 2024: Marwan Issa – confirmed dead. The deputy commander of Hamas’s military wing in Gaza and one of the masterminds of the 7 October attacks. He was killed in an airstrike on a tunnel complex under the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
1 April 2024: Mohammad Reza Zahedi – confirmed dead. A senior officer in the IRGC, he commanded the al-Quds force in Syria and Lebanon.
Zahedi was killed by an Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus. He was the highest-ranking Iranian killed since Qassem Soleimani died in a US drone strike in 2020 and had previously commanded the IRGC’s aerospace force and ground forces.
Iran responded by launching one of the biggest missile and drone attacks in military history towards Israel. Most of the weapons were intercepted and only one person was killed by falling debris.
13 July 2024: Mohammed Deif – not confirmed dead. Israel claimed it killed Deif, the mastermind of the attacks on 7 October, in a strike on Khan Younis, southern Gaza. Hamas says he survived.
Deif, 58, has been on Israel’s most-wanted list since 1995 and escaped multiple Israeli assassination attempts.
The airstrike killed at least 90 other people and injured more than 300 others, health authorities said.
Updated
The killing of Ismail Haniyeh could be yet another destabilising factor in a conflict already on the verge of escalating into a regional war.
A response could come from Hamas’s allies, bringing the Middle East closer to a regional war between Israel and Iran and its proxies.
Haniyeh’s death came just hours after Israel claimed it killed a top Hezbollah commander in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, and the region is already bracing for the powerful Shia militia’s reaction.
Israel and Hezbollah have been fighting a war of attrition on the blue line that separates Lebanon and the Jewish state since Hezbollah joined the fighting on 8 October, and tensions have soared since an airstrike on Saturday that killed 12 children in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. Hezbollah has denied it was responsible for the attack.
The US will take every possible measure to protect its personnel and interests in the Middle East after recent attacks there, a US state department spokesperson has said.
The US is “continuing to urge restraint to all parties to avoid an escalation into a wider regional conflict,” they told reporters.
Body of Hezbollah commander found in Beirut rubble – reports
The body of the senior Hezbollah military commander, Fuad Shukur, has been found in the rubble of a building in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a day after it was hit by an Israeli strike, Reuters is reporting, citing sources.
As we reported earlier, Hezbollah has confirmed that Shukur was killed on Wednesday.
Updated
Al Jazeera has issued a statement after it said two of its journalists were killed today in Gaza. The statement reads:
Al Jazeera Media Network condemns in the strongest terms the targeted assassination of Al Jazeera Arabic Channel’s correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul and cameraman Rami al-Rifi after being targeted by Israeli occupation forces while covering in Shati Camp.
The Israeli occupation forces targeted the vehicle in which Ismail and Rami were travelling with a missile, resulting in cold-blooded assassination. This latest attack on Al Jazeera journalists is part of a systematic targeting campaign against the network’s journalists and their families since October 2023.
The news channel said al-Ghoul was “renowned for his professionalism and dedication”, and that his coverage of al-Shifa hospital and northern Gaza “captured international attention”. It added:
Despite facing extreme hardships, including hunger, illness, and the loss of his father and brother, Ismail relentlessly dedicated himself to covering events and delivering the reality of Gaza to the world.
Hezbollah confirms senior commander Fuad Shukur killed in strike
Hezbollah has confirmed that its top military commander, Fuad Shukur, was killed in an Israeli strike in a southern Beirut suburb.
In a statement, Hezbollah said its leader Hassan Nasrallah would make a statement on Thursday.
Updated
Benjamin Netanyahu tells the citizens of Israel to be patient.
The Israeli leader says there has not been “a single week when I have not been told domestically and from outside the country” to end the war. But, he adds:
I did not give into these voices then, and I will not give into them today. If we had given into these pressures, we would not have taken out these leaders of Hamas.
Netanyahu says Israel will make anyone against it 'pay a heavy price'
Benjamin Netanyahu says Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukur, who was killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut, was “the main person in charge of the massacre” of 12 children and teenagers in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Sunday.
The Israeli leader said he visited the Majdal Shams village, where the rocket strike took place, and that he “saw the grief of the families whose worlds have been ruined”.
Israel “will not remain silent” in the face of “challenging days”, Netanyahu says. He says that since the strike in Beirut, Israel has been receiving “threats from every direction”.
“We are prepared for every scenario,” Netanyahu says.
Israel will make anyone who is against us pay a very heavy price.
Updated
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is currently holding a news conference in Tel Aviv.
He begins by saying that he has made it clear that Israel is “fighting the evil axis of Iran”, which he says is a “war of existence” for his country.
Netanyahu says he wants to “show my appreciation” to the Israel Defense Forces for killing Hezbollah’s top military commander Fuad Shukur, who he described as “one of the most wanted terrorists in the world”.
Shukur was “a key factor in the connection between Iran and Hezbollah”, Netanyahu says.
Updated
UN security council to hold emergency meeting
The UN security council says it will meet today at 4pm ET on the situation in the Middle East.
#UPDATE
— UN News (@UN_News_Centre) July 31, 2024
UN Security Council to meet today at 4 PM (Wednesday, New York time) on the situation in the Middle East, as tensions continue to escalate in the region
Follow our coverage here and at https://t.co/cdvB97sZQL pic.twitter.com/0dKw1LQsAW
UN chief says attacks mark 'dangerous escalation'
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, believes that attacks in Beirut and Tehran mark a “dangerous escalation” of the conflict in the Middle East, according to his spokesperson.
The attacks come at “a moment in which all efforts should instead be leading to a ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all Israeli hostages, a massive increase of humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza and a return to calm in Lebanon and across the Blue Line”, spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
“Rather than that, what we are seeing are efforts to undermine these goals,” he added. The statement continues:
The Secretary-General has consistently called for maximum restraint by all. It is increasingly clear, however, that restraint alone is insufficient at this extremely sensitive time. The Secretary-General urges all to vigorously work towards regional de-escalation in the interest of long-term peace and stability for all.
Updated
At the funeral in Beirut’s Haret Hreik neighbourhood, a dozen young boys wore their football uniforms in honor of their fallen teammate, 10-year-old Hassan Fadallalah, himself an avid football player.
A picture of his little sister, six-year-old Amira, was carried by young girl scouts who said they were jealous of her martyrdom.
Talin, a 12-year old who was a peer of Amira, said:
I didn’t know her too well but she was with us in the scouts. We came to mourn the two martyrs, now they are both living in heaven, and for this, they’re lucky.
The mother, father and elder brother of Hassan and Amira were all injured in Tuesday’s strike. The elder brother was transferred to a burn unit, as he suffered from severe burns all across his body, while the father broke multiple bones while trying to shield his children from falling debris.
Aya, a 38-year-old teacher and friend of the family, said:
It’s a very tragic and frustrating thing, seeing the killing of young children. The moment I heard what happened to these kids, I simultaneously thought of my children and the way I could lose them any time in an Israeli massacre.
Prayers were interrupted by angry chants of “death to America” and “death to Israel” in defiance of Israel’s strike last night. The area is overwhelmingly in support of Hezbollah and its residents said they were waiting for its retaliation to Israel’s strikes in Beirut and Tehran. Aya said:
We really trust the wisdom of our leadership and the resistance movement with our lives and safety. We’re resilient, we have the needed steadfastness to stay here. No one would think of leaving.
Updated
A funeral was held on Wednesday for two children killed in Israel’s Tuesday night airstrike on Haret Hreik, a neighbourhood of Dahiyeh in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
The strike killed four people and injured 74 others in what Israel said was an assassination of Fuad Shukur, Hezbollah’s top military official.
Hezbollah has not yet announced the death of Shukur, saying rescue efforts are still under way to find his body, in a statement on Wednesday morning.
Ten-year-old Hassan Fadallalah and his six-year-old younger sister, Amira, were killed by the strike, while the other members of their family were hospitalised for injuries.
People in the neighbourhood gathered for the ceremony, held just a kilometer away from the site of Tuesday’s assassination attempt.
Two small caskets, decorated with flowers and the insignia of the Islamic Scouts Association, were accompanied by hundreds of mourners through the streets of Dahiyeh to a nearby burial hall.
Pictures of Hezbollah martyrs line the tombs in the hall, some of them years old, others freshly printed.
Updated
We reported earlier that Al Jazeera said two of its journalists have been killed in an Israeli strike on the Gaza Strip. The news channel has released more details:
Ismail al-Ghoul and Rami al-Refee were killed in al-Shati camp in northern Gaza while reporting from near the house of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated earlier today, Al Jazeera said.
Al-Ghoul and al-Refee were wearing their “press” vests and their car was clearly marked as a press vehicle, it said.
Al Jazeera said they were on their way to al-Ahli Baptist hospital after being asked to leave the area by Israel forces, when they were attacked from the air.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said it was “dismayed” by the news of the deaths, adding in a statement that:
Journalists are civilians and should never be targeted. Israel must explain why two more Al Jazeera journalists have been killed in what appears to be a direct strike.
Iran is asking the UN security council to convene an emergency meeting to address “Israeli aggression and terrorist attacks” after the killing of Ismail Haniyeh.
The Iranian UN ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani, in a letter, blamed Israel for the killing of Haniyeh in Tehran and the targeting of Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur in Beirut.
The strikes “suggest an intention to escalate conflict and expand the war through the entire region,” he wrote, and called on the international community for “decisive action to address these violations and hold the perpetrators accountable.”
What we know so far
I will shortly be handing over to my colleagues in the US, but first here is a summary of the latest developments (there is also a roundup of the international reaction to Ismail Haniyeh’s death here):
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has been killed, according to Hamas and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Israel has yet to make any comment on Haniyeh’s killing but in its statement, Hamas accused Israel of the attack. Associated Press reports that analysts on Iranian state television have also begun blaming Israel for the attack.
A funeral for Haniyeh will be held in Tehran on Thursday and then his body will be transferred to Qatar’s capital Doha for prayers and burial, Hamas said in a statement on Wednesday. Iran’s state media has announced that there will be three days of national mourning in the country for Haniyeh.
The Hamas statement said the group mourned Haniyeh “who died as a result of a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran, after participating in the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian president”.
Hamas’s deputy chief in Gaza, Khalil Al-Hayya, said that Hamas and Iran do not want a regional war, but there is a crime that should be punished. The comment came from a press conference in Tehran after the killing of the Palestinian militant group’s chief Ismail Haniyeh.
An Israeli government spokesperson has said that Israel is not commenting on the death of Haniyeh. “We are not commenting on that particular incident,” spokesperson David Mencer told a briefing with journalists on Wednesday.
Deputy Pentagon press secretary, Sabrina Singh, said secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin, spoke with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant. They spoke “about Israel’s response to Lebanese Hezbollah’s 27 July attack on Israel, which killed twelve innocent civilians, mostly children. They discussed the threats to Israel posed by a range of Iranian-backed terrorist groups, including Lebanese Hezbollah,” she said. She added: “Secretary Austin reaffirmed his unwavering commitment to Israel’s security and right to self-defence.”
Avenging Haniyeh’s assassination is “Tehran’s duty” because it occurred in the Iranian capital, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said. Khamenei said Israel had provided the grounds for “harsh punishment” for itself. Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said the country will “defend its territorial integrity, dignity, honor, and pride, and will make the terrorist occupiers regret their cowardly act”.
The assassination was reported on Iranian state TV early on Wednesday morning. In a statement, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said “The cause and dimensions of this incident are being investigated and the results will be announced later.” Iranian state media have reported that the assassination of Haniyeh took place at around 2am while he was staying at a residence for war veterans. So far little detail as come out about the exact circumstances of the killing.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Haniyeh had been targeted in his residence along with an Iranian bodyguard. It said he had been in Iran to attend the inauguration of president Masoud Pezeshkian and that the circumstances of the “incident” was being investigated.
Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk said Haniyeh’s death was a “cowardly act that will not go unpunished”, according to the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV. Another Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri has told Reuters that the killing is a grave escalation that will not achieve its goals.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Wednesday the US was not involved in or made aware of the assassination of Haniyeh. “This is something we were not aware of or involved in. It’s very hard to speculate,” Blinken said in an interview with Channel News Asia during a visit to Singapore.
Lebanon’s armed group Hezbollah issued its condolences on Wednesday after Haniyeh’s death. Hezbollah did not specifically accuse Israel but said it would make Iran-aligned groups more determined to confront Israel.
Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of Yemen’s Houthi Supreme Revolutionary Committee called Haniyeh’s killing a “heinous terrorist crime”, according to Reutersand “a flagrant violation of laws and ideal values.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has strongly condemned the killing, Palestinian state news agency Wafa reported. Palestinian national and Islamic factions have also called for a general strike and mass demonstrations in response to the assassination.
Qatar’s foreign ministry called the killing a “heinous crime” and “shameful assassination”. Turkey echoed the condemnation. “We condemn the assassination of the leader of Hamas’s political office, Ismail Haniyeh, in a shameful assassination in Tehran,” the foreign ministry said, adding that “this attack also aims to spread the Gaza war to a regional dimension”.
Egypt said that Israeli escalation indicated a lack of political will from Israel for de-escalation, after the killing of Haniyeh in Tehran. A statement from the Egyptian foreign ministry said this escalation, along with making no progress in Gaza ceasefire talks, was complicating the situation.
The EU had not made a formal statement on the latest developments in the Middle East, but external affairs spokesperson Peter Stano said in response to a question that “we are following closely reports about the assassination of Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Teheran last night.” Stano called “on all parties to exert maximum restraint and avoid any further escalation”. He added: “No country and no nation stand to gain from a further escalation in the Middle East.”
Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim said he condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the assassination of Haniyeh, calling him a “valiant advocate for his people”.
The Chinese foreign ministry said that the incident could lead to further regional instability.
Although Israel has not formally commented, several Israeli ministers have reacted to Haniyeh’s assassination. The heritage minister, Amichay Eliyahu, celebrated his killing, writing on X: “Haniyeh’s death makes the world a little better” and that this is the “right way to clean the world from this filth”. Shlomo Karhi, minister of communications, wrote on X: “Yes, all your enemies will perish, O God”, although the post appeared later to have been deleted. Amichai Chikli, minister of diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism, posted a video of the Hamas leader on X with the caption, “Careful What You Wish For”.
Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders welcomed the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh. “Good Riddance!!” the leader of the Party for Freedom wrote on social media, adding a warning for Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah.
Haniyeh’s death came just hours after Israel claimed it killed Hezbollah’s top military commander, Fuad Shukur, in an airstrike on a south Beirut suburb launched in retaliation for a rocket attack that killed 12 children at the weekend.
Referring specifically to war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday that Israel is not seeking to escalate, but that it is prepared to handle all scenarios. Gallant’s comments were made during a visit to a missile defence battery were reported by Israeli media outlets and confirmed by his spokesperson.
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin has held a press conference in the Philippines. He has so far said the US would defend Israel if it was attacked and that he did not think a wider war in the Middle East was inevitable.
Al Jazeera are reporting that two of its journalists have been killed in an attack on the Gaza Strip. The Qatar-based broadcaster has named them as Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Ismail al-Ghoul and his cameraman Rami al-Rifee. It has not shared any further information.
The UK’s foreign minister, David Lammy, and defence minister, John Healey, have travelled to Qatar to help drive efforts to end the conflict in Gaza and call for de-escalation in the wider region, the UK government said on Wednesday.
The Australian foreign minister, Penny Wong, has warned about the risk of escalation in the Middle East and urged Australians to leave Lebanon. In a video message, Wong said: “Now is not the time for Australians in the region to wait and see what happens. Now is the time to leave.”
Qatar’s prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who is also foreign minister, spoke by phone to US secretary of state Antony Blinken and discussed continuing work towards a ceasefire in Gaza, Qatar’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has advised against all travel to Lebanon. In a social media post on Wednesday, the FCDO also advised any British nationals in Lebanon to register their presence on Gov.uk.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas will visit Turkey on 14-15 August, the Turkish presidency said on Wednesday. Abbas will meet Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on 14 August and address parliament on 15 August.
The EU had not made a formal statement on the latest developments in the Middle East, but external affairs spokesperson Peter Stano said in response to a question that “we are following closely reports about the assassination of Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Teheran last night.”
“The EU has a principled position of rejecting extrajudicial killings and of supporting the rule of law, including in international criminal justice,” Stano said, adding:
We recall that the EU and other partners have listed Hamas as a terrorist organisation, and that the ICC prosecutor was seeking an arrest warrant against Ismail Haniyeh on various charges of war crimes.
We call on all parties to exert maximum restraint and avoid any further escalation. No country and no nation stand to gain from a further escalation in the Middle East.”
Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim said he condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, calling him a “valiant advocate for his people”.
In a statement on social media, Anwar said:
This was a murder of the most heinous kind, plainly designed to derail ongoing talks aimed at ending the carnage in Gaza that has claimed over 40,000 lives. It is patently clear that this could only have been carried out in an environment of utter impunity.
Only the heedless and unconscionable will not see the need to intensify pressure on Israel to stop their murderous rampage.
I am deeply concerned about what this tragedy would mean for the Palestinian people, who have already been so cruelly subjected to so much pain, hardship and suffering for so many decades.
Detractors who have criticised me for meeting with Ismail Haniyeh in the past, fail to appreciate Haniyeh’s profound desire for a peaceful Middle East and a Palestinian nation restored to its rightful dignity.”
After the 7 October attacks, Anwar criticised what he described as a “pressuring attitude” by western countries calling for the group to be condemned. Hamas leaders have often visited Malaysia in the past, and Anwar met with Ismail Haniyeh in Qatar in May. Malaysia does not recognise Israel diplomatically.
Malaysia, a Muslim-majority country, has long been a strong advocate for the Palestinian cause. Many Malaysians have also taken part in boycott campaigns targeting brands they accuse of being sympathetic to Israel.
Updated
Avenging the assassination of the Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, is now Tehran’s duty as his killing occurred while he was a “dear guest” on Iranian soil, the country’s supreme leader has warned in his first reaction to the killing.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described Haniyeh’s killing, which Tehran views as a provocation designed to escalate the conflict in the Middle East, as a “bitter and difficult incident that happened in the territory of the Islamic republic”.
The episode has plunged Masoud Pezeshkhian, the newly inaugurated Iranian president, into a major crisis in his first days in office as he faces internal demands to respond to what amounts to a humiliating targeting of an ally while visiting Tehran to attend his own inauguration – even as he seeks better ties with the west. Pezeshkhian vowed his country would “defend its territory” and make the attackers regret their cowardly action.
Mohammad Reza Aref, the newly appointed vice-president, said the west was complicit in this manifestation of “state terrorism” through its silence at the actions of Israel, whom Tehran and Hamas have blamed for the assassination.
He said: “This desperate act was based on sinister goals, including creating a new crisis at the regional level and challenging the regional and international relations of the Islamic Republic of Iran at this point in time, especially at the beginning of the ‘government of national unity’.”
The powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said: “This crime of the Zionist regime will face a harsh and painful response from the powerful and huge resistance front.”
The choice of Tehran, as opposed to Qatar, where Haniyeh mainly resides, or Turkey which he regularly visited, is likely to be about more than just opportunity. It is also a chance to show to a global audience that the IRGC cannot defend its most prized political assets even in its own capital.
You can read Patrick Wintour’s full analysis piece here:
Al Jazeera say two of its journalists have been killed in Gaza
Al Jazeera are reporting that two of its journalists have been killed in an attack on the Gaza Strip. The Qatar-based broadcaster has named them as Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Ismail al-Ghoul and his cameraman Rami al-Rifee. It has not shared any further information.
BREAKING: Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Ismail al-Ghoul and his cameraman Rami al-Rifi killed in Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip https://t.co/6b52FUPCP4 pic.twitter.com/nYa87xeeMQ
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) July 31, 2024
Updated
Reuters reports that Hamas’s deputy chief in Gaza, Khalil Al-Hayya, said that Hamas and Iran do not want a regional war, but there is a crime that should be punished.
According to the news agency, the comment came from a press conference in Tehran after the killing of the Palestinian militant group’s chief Ismail Haniyeh.
Updated
UK advises against all travel to Lebanon
The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has advised against all travel to Lebanon. In a social media post on Wednesday, the FCDO also advised any British nationals in Lebanon to register their presence on Gov.uk.
🚨 TRAVEL UPDATE: if you are a British national in Lebanon, you should register your presence to receive the latest information➡️ https://t.co/yMKMv2ULRn
— Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (@FCDOGovUK) July 31, 2024
📞 British nationals in Lebanon who need help should contact +961 (0)1 960 800.
⚠The FCDO advises against all travel to… pic.twitter.com/EMYBGWxEfw
'Now is the time to leave': Australian foreign minister urges Australians to leave Lebanon
The Australian foreign minister, Penny Wong, has warned about the risk of escalation in the Middle East and urged Australians to leave Lebanon.
In a video message, Wong said:
My message to Australian citizens and residents in Lebanon is: now is the time to leave. If you are in Australia and thinking of travelling to Lebanon, do not.
There is a real risk that the conflict in the region escalates seriously. The security situation could deteriorate quickly, with little or no notice. Some commercial flights are still operating.
If you can leave, you should. Beirut airport could close completely if the situation worsens. And if that happens, the government may not be able to help Australians still in Lebanon to evacuate. You may not be able to leave Lebanon for an extended period.
I know, Australians, in particular the Lebanese Australian community, are worried. We share your concerns.
We are working with partners in the region to push for restraint and de-escalation. But now is not the time for Australians in the region to wait and see what happens. Now is the time to leave.”
My message to Australian citizens and residents in Lebanon is now is the time to leave. pic.twitter.com/74DNfh1UNz
— Senator Penny Wong (@SenatorWong) July 31, 2024
Updated
UK foreign and defence ministers in Qatar to push for end to Gaza war
The UK’s foreign minister, David Lammy, and defence minister, John Healey, have travelled to Qatar to help drive efforts to end the conflict in Gaza and call for de-escalation in the wider region, the UK government said on Wednesday.
“It is absolutely vital that we engage closely with partners like Qatar, who play a key role in mediating the conflict in Gaza, so that we can bring this devastating war to an end,” Lammy said in a statement, reports Reuters.
The UK and Qatar share a commitment to regional stability, security, defence and driving growth.
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) July 31, 2024
Qatar plays a key role in mediating the conflict in Gaza, so it’s absolutely vital we work together to push for peace.
I look forward to continuing our close cooperation with HH… pic.twitter.com/fenks5IOSY
Updated
William Christou is a Beirut-based journalist, focusing on human rights investigations and migration issues. This is a report by Christou from Beirut, Lebanon, today.
The rubble lay in a heap piled up at the foot of the collapsed building which had been struck by three Israeli missiles just hours before. The sounds of heavy machinery filled the air, aiding the civil defence members searching for bodies trapped under debris as Hezbollah fighters clothed in black watched from impromptu roadblocks set up the night before.
Among others, rescue workers were searching for Fouad Shukr, Hezbollah’s top military commander and the target of Israel’s strike on Tuesday evening. Israel has already confirmedhis death, but Hezbollah says he has yet to be found, holding out hope he still might emerge alive from the rubble.
Most surrounding storefronts were shuttered, unusual for a Wednesday morning in the busy neighbourhood of Haret Hreik in southern Beirut. A few patients with bandaged limbs trickled out of Bahman hospital just a few dozen meters from the site of the strike.
“Out of nowhere, I was listening to music and then I heard a bomb. The store started to shake. I didn’t understand everything in the first few seconds, but then I knew it was Israel,” Jawad Fneish, an employee of a small kiosk about 50 meters from the strike, said.
Fneish said that he went outside to find about 20 injured people. He and the store owner began to grab ice from their freezers and began to help the injured.
Seventy-four people were injured in the strike, mostly from windows and debris from surrounding buildings. Four were killed, including two children.
Hezbollah has yet to respond to Israel’s attack, unusual for the media-attentive group. Days before the strike, the Lebanese group reportedly sent a message to Israel through US mediators: Any strike on Beirut would cross a red-line.
Nearby residents said that they expected a strong response from Hezbollah and that they were ready to pay the price for whatever further retaliation comes from Israel.
“We are used to martyrs and civilians dying. We take pride in the martyrs, as if he was a groom we were clapping for. We are not scared of anything, Israel, nothing scares us, not even America scares us,” Joumana, a 40-year-old resident of Haret Hreik said.
“If you hit us, we will hit you. If you want to widen [the conflict], then we will widen it. Whatever Sayed Nasrallah says, we are ready for it. Even if they asked us women for the Jihad, we will go fight,” Joumana added.
As rescuers continued to dig through the rubble, the sounds of lamentation filled the air of a small event hall packed with mourners. A funeral was being held for Hassan and Amira Fadallalah, young children killed in the Israeli strike on Tuesday night.
Updated
Israel’s government has said little on the assassination of Haniyeh in Iran, but the news of his death was welcomed by Israelis who saw it as a major achievement in the war against the Palestinian Islamist group, according to Reuters.
“Ismail Haniyeh eliminated in Tehran,” read an identical banner stamped on the near-nonstop news coverage by the country’s four leading television channels on Wednesday, the news agency reports.
Commentators and experts mulled over the capabilities needed to carry out such an assassination while also speculating how it might affect the war in Gaza and the chances of reaching a hostage release deal.
The news agency reports that in much of Israel there was a mood of satisfaction, a day after Israel’s military said it killed one of the most senior leaders of Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Beirut in retaliation for a deadly attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
“This is an amazing achievement of intelligence linked to operations, that lead to the result,” Amos Gilad, a former senior defence official, said on Channel 12. “Regarding the performance we can say it was impressive, whoever carried it out.”
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not commented on Haniyeh’s killing, neither has his defence minister. The government’s press office posted an image of Haniyeh on Facebook with the word “eliminated” pasted on his forehead, reports Reuters.
The news agency adds that a couple of junior ministers not part of the inner circle of security officials making strategic decisions took to social media to celebrate the operation, which Israel has not officially claimed.
Updated
Qatar’s prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who is also foreign minister, spoke by phone to US secretary of state Antony Blinken and discussed continuing work towards a ceasefire in Gaza, Qatar’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
Qatar, Egypt and the US have acted as mediators seeking a ceasefire in the Gaza war.
In case you are just joining us now, here are some useful links:
International reaction to Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh’s killing
Footage shows Haniyeh’s last meeting with Iran’s supreme leader
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas will visit Turkey on 14-15 August, the Turkish presidency said on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
Abbas will meet Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on 14 August and address parliament on 15 August, the presidency’s communications director Fahrettin Altun said on social media platform X.
Israel 'not commenting' on death of Haniyeh
Reuters is citing an Israeli government spokesperson as saying that it is not commenting on the death of Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh.
“We are not commenting on that particular incident,” spokesperson David Mencer told a briefing with journalists.
Updated
British MP Tom Tugendhat, who is competing to be the next Conservative leader, has reacted to a social media post by Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.
“The regime in Tehran murders hundreds of thousands of innocents at home and abroad and mourns only when their executioners are killed. They’re an evil regime,” Tugendhat wrote.
The regime in Tehran murders hundreds of thousands of innocents at home and abroad and mourns only when their executioners are killed.
— Tom Tugendhat (@TomTugendhat) July 31, 2024
They’re an evil regime. https://t.co/xPvquY05M0
More from the US now and the deputy Pentagon press secretary, Sabrina Singh, said secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin, spoke with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant.
They spoke “about Israel’s response to Lebanese Hezbollah’s 27 July attack on Israel, which killed twelve innocent civilians, mostly children. They discussed the threats to Israel posed by a range of Iranian-backed terrorist groups, including Lebanese Hezbollah,” she said.
She added:
Secretary Austin reaffirmed his unwavering commitment to Israel’s security and right to self-defence.
They also discussed ongoing efforts to achieve a diplomatic solution that enables citizens on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border to safely return to their homes.
Updated
Iran said that the United States bears responsibility in the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh because of its support for Israel, Reuters reported.
International reaction to Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh's killing
Here is a roundup of the international reaction from officials so far on the killing of the Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh:
Hamas
A Hamas statement said the group mourned Haniyeh “who died as a result of a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran, after participating in the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian president”. You can read the full statement here.
Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri called the killing of Haniyeh in Iran “a grave escalation” that will not achieve its goals. He said: “This assassination by the Israeli occupation of Brother Haniyeh is a grave escalation that aims to break the will of Hamas and the will of our people and achieve fake goals. We confirm that this escalation will fail to achieve its objectives.”
Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV cited senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk as saying the killing was of Haniyeh was “a “cowardly act that will not go unpunished”.
Iran
Iran has no intention of escalating the Middle East conflict, its first vice-president Mohammad Reza Aref said in a statement issued after the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Iran’s state media reported on Wednesday.
The comments sit in stark contrast to the words of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei said that avenging Haniyeh’s assassination is “Tehran’s duty” because it occurred in the Iranian capital and that Israel had provided the grounds for “harsh punishment” for itself. Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards military force said in a statement on Wednesday that the killing of Haniyeh in Tehran “will be met with a harsh and painful response.” “Iran and the resistance front will respond to this crime,” it said, employing a term Tehran uses to refer to allied militant groups across the Middle East.
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said the country will “defend its territorial integrity, dignity, honor, and pride, and will make the terrorist occupiers regret their cowardly act” of killing Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday. He did not elaborate in his statement that was carried by Iranian media.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kan’ani has said Haniyeh’s killing would “strengthen the deep and unbreakable bond between the Islamic Republic of Iran and dear Palestine and the Resistance,” according to Iran’s Mehr news agency. He said the “incident” was being investigated.
Israel
There has been no immediate comment from Israel on the strike, which took place hours after Haniyeh attended the inauguration ceremony for Iran’s new president.
Several Israeli ministers have reacted to Haniyeh’s death though. The heritage minister, Amichay Eliyahu, celebrated his killing, writing on X: “Haniyeh’s death makes the world a little better” and that this is the “right way to clean the world from this filth”.
Shlomo Karhi, minister of communications, wrote on X: “Yes, all your enemies will perish, O God”, although it later appeared to have been deleted.
Amichai Chikli, minister of diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism, posted a video of the Hamas leader on X with the caption “Careful What You Wish For”.
Palestinian Authority
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas strongly condemned the killing of Haniyeh, Palestinian state news agency Wafa reported, calling it a “cowardly act and [a] dangerous development”. Abbas also called on Palestinians “to unite, be patient and steadfast in the face of the Israeli occupation”, Wafa said, according to Al Jazeera.
Hezbollah
Lebanon’s armed group Hezbollah issued its condolences on Wednesday after Haniyeh’s death. Hezbollah did not specifically accuse Israel but said it would make Iran-aligned groups more determined to confront Israel.
The Houthis
Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of Yemen’s Houthi Supreme Revolutionary Committee, called Haniyeh’s killing a “heinous terrorist crime”. He said: “Targeting Ismail Haniyeh is a heinous terrorist crime and a flagrant violation of laws and ideal values.”
US
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Wednesday the US was not involved in or made aware of the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh. “This is something we were not aware of or involved in. It’s very hard to speculate,” Blinken said in an interview with Channel News Asia during a visit to Singapore, when asked what impact it could have, according to a transcript. Blinken also stressed the importance of a ceasefire in Gaza, saying “it is profoundly in the interest of trying to put things on a better path, not only in Gaza, but actually throughout the region because so much is tied to what’s happening in Gaza right now.”
Egypt
Egypt said on Wednesday that Israeli escalation indicated a lack of political will from Israel for de-escalation, after the killing of Haniyeh in Tehran. A statement from the Egyptian foreign ministry said this escalation, along with making no progress in Gaza ceasefire talks, was complicating the situation.
Qatar
The prime minister of Qatar, which has acted as a mediator in ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, suggested that the killing of Haniyeh could jeopardise the talks. “Political assassinations and continued targeting of civilians in Gaza while talks continue leads us to ask, how can mediation succeed when one party assassinates the negotiator on other side?” Prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani wrote on X.
Qatar’s foreign ministry called the killing a “heinous crime” and “shameful assassination”. The ministry added that the strike in Tehran was a “dangerous escalation” and “a flagrant violation of international and humanitarian law”.“This assassination and the reckless Israeli behaviour of continuously targeting civilians in Gaza will lead to the region slipping into chaos and undermine the chances of peace”.
Jordan
Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, condemned “Israel’s assassination” of Haniyeh. In a post on X, he said: “Israel’s continuation of its aggression against Gaza, its violation of the rights of the Palestinian people, and its crimes against them, and without international action to curb its aggression, will drag the region towards more wars and destruction.”
Turkey
Turkey has condemned the killing of Haniyeh. “We condemn the assassination of the leader of Hamas’s political office, Ismail Haniyeh, in a shameful assassination in Tehran,” the foreign ministry said, adding that “this attack also aims to spread the Gaza war to a regional dimension”.
“Once again the [Benjamin] Netanyahu government has shown that it has no intention of achieving peace,” the ministry said. “If the international community does not take measures to stop Israel, our region will face much larger conflicts.”
Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan said he was “deeply saddened” to hear about the death of Haniyeh, adding that he had become a symbol of Palestinian resistance. “He had devoted his life to the Palestinian cause, and to bringing peace and tranquility to Palestine,” Fidan said on social media platform X, sharing a photograph of himself and Haniyeh.
Russia
Russia said on Wednesday that the Middle East was teetering the brink of a major war and that key players were continuing to raise the stakes. “The region is currently balancing on the brink of a global conflict,” Andrei Nastasin, deputy spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry, said. “The parties continue to raise the stakes.” Russia also said that the “manic desire” of the US to monopolise the process of political settlement in the Middle East had led to this situation.
The killing of Haniyeh is an “absolutely unacceptable political assassination”, the Russian deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov told the state news agency Ria. He said: “This is an absolutely unacceptable political murder, and it will lead to further escalation of tensions.” Bogdanov said the killing would also have a negative impact on ceasefire talks in Gaza, Ria added.
China
The Chinese foreign ministry said that the incident could lead to further regional instability.
Europe
European leaders have yet to publicly react to the news but a senior EU official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, cautioned about the risks of escalation.
“Although Israel didn’t claim Haniyeh assassination, it is seen in the region as demonstration of Israel’s determination to destroy Hamas to the point of making it irrelevant as military threat and to take it out of the political calculations for the ‘day after’ in Gaza and on the Palestinian arena,” the official said.
The official also pointed to the assassination of Fuad Shukur in Beirut and recent strikes on the Hodeidah port in Yemen.
“All this is a clear warning to Teheran and all its proxies in the Middle East that Israel is not afraid to further hit them deadly if they continue to challenge it. This increases the risks of very dangerous escalation but it also pushes the global powers to intensify their efforts in pressuring all sides involved in the conflict with the aim to avoid all-out war,” the official added.
The Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders earlier welcomed the assassination of Haniyeh. “Good Riddance!!” the leader of the Party for Freedom wrote on social media, in addition to a warning for Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah.
Updated
The Guardian’s Bethan McKernan, reporting from Jerusalem, has written an analysis piece on how Ismail Haniyeh’s death brings the prospect of regional war closer.
You can read the full piece below
Updated
According to Reuters news agency, Iran’s state media has announced that there will be three days of national mourning in the country after the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh.
Updated
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Wednesday the US was not involved in or made aware of the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, reports Reuters.
“This is something we were not aware of or involved in. It’s very hard to speculate,” Blinken said in an interview with Channel News Asia during a visit to Singapore, when asked what impact it could have, according to a transcript.
US secretary of state stresses importance of ceasefire in Gaza after Hamas leader killing – video
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has stressed the importance of a ceasefire in Gaza. Speaking to the media, Blinken said he was aware of the reports of the killing of the Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, but did not comment directly on the news.
Blinken said:
Of course, I’ve seen the reports and all that I can tell you right now is that I think nothing takes away from the importance of, as I said a moment ago, getting to the ceasefire, which is manifestly in the interests of the hostages and bringing them home. It’s manifestly in the interests of Palestinians who are suffering terribly every single day; children, women, men in Gaza that have been caught in this crossfire of Hamas’s making.
It is profoundly in the interest of trying to put things on a better path, not only in Gaza, but actually throughout the region because so much is tied to what’s happening in Gaza right now. We’ve been working from day one not only to get to a better place in Gaza, but also to prevent the conflict from spreading.”
Updated
Egypt says Israeli escalation indicates no political will for de-escalation
Egypt said on Wednesday that Israeli escalation indicated a lack of political will from Israel for de-escalation, after the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
According to Reuters, a statement from the Egyptian foreign ministry said this escalation, along with making no progress in Gaza ceasefire talks, was complicating the situation.
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank condemned the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas who was killed in Iran on Wednesday, but said it would have little effect on the Islamist movement, reports Reuters.
Israeli officials have not so far claimed responsibility for the killing of Haniyeh, who had been in Tehran for the inauguration of the new Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian, and there has been no official comment from the government.
But, according to Reuter’s report, few doubted that Haniyeh, the public face of Hamas who took the top job in 2017, was the latest in a string of Hamas leaders to have been killed by Israel.
“We woke up this morning to a tragedy for the Palestinian people,” Fawzi Nassar, a resident of the southern city of Hebron, told Reuters. “He is not the first one they assassinated – there were many leaders in the past like Shiekh Ahmed Yassin and others, but that will not affect our steadfastness,” he said, referring to the founder of Hamas who was killed by an Israeli helicopter gunship in 2004.
Palestinian factions called for a day of protest and a general strike in the West Bank and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah faction is a political rival to Hamas, condemned the killing, which Fatah called a “heinous and cowardly act”.
According to Reuters, although the West Bank is under the nominal leadership of the Palestinian Authority, run by Fatah, opinion polls show support for Hamas is strong.
“His assassination will not affect the party because the party is not a new one,” Suheil Nasrelddin, a resident of Hebron, told Reuters. “They have a lot of leaders, even the youngest child is a leader.”
“The Israeli crime of assassinating Ismael Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas, will not break the Palestinian resistance or the Palestinian people’s determination to achieve our freedom,” said Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian politician who heads the Union Of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees.
“Of course it will escalate the situation,” he said. “And this is what Netanyahu wants, he knows that the end of this war is the end of his political career.”
Referring specifically to war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday that Israel is not seeking to escalate, but that it is prepared to handle all scenarios.
Reuters reports that Gallant’s comments made during a visit to a missile defence battery were reported by Israeli media outlets and confirmed by his spokesperson.
Updated
Funeral of Ismail Haniyeh to be held in Tehran and burial to take place in Doha
A funeral for Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh will be held in Tehran on Thursday and then his body will be transferred to Qatar’s capital Doha for prayers and burial, the group said in a statement on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
Updated
Iran has no intention of escalating Middle East conflict, first VP says - state media report
Iran has no intention of escalating the Middle East conflict, its first vice-president Mohammad Reza Aref said in a statement issued after the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Iran’s state media reported on Wednesday.
The comments sit in stark contrast to the words of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday. Khamenei said that avenging Haniyeh’s assassination is “Tehran’s duty” because it occurred in the Iranian capital and that Israel had provided the grounds for “harsh punishment” for itself.
There has been no immediate comment from Israel on the strike, which took place hours after Haniyeh attended the inauguration ceremony for Iran’s new president.
Footage shows Haniyeh's last meeting with Iran's supreme leader
The Guardian video team has shared the below footage of Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh’s last meeting with Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. You can view it here:
Updated
European leaders have yet to publicly react to the news that Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran.
But a senior EU official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, cautioned about the risks of escalation.
“Although Israel didn’t claim Haniyeh assassination, it is seen in the region as demonstration of Israel’s determination to destroy Hamas to the point of making it irrelevant as military threat and to take it out of the political calculations for the ‘day after’ in Gaza and on the Palestinian arena,” the official said.
The official also pointed to the assassination of Fuad Shukur in Beirut and recent strikes on the Hodeidah port in Yemen.
“All this is a clear warning to Teheran and all its proxies in the Middle East that Israel is not afraid to further hit them deadly if they continue to challenge it. This increases the risks of very dangerous escalation but it also pushes the global powers to intensify their efforts in pressuring all sides involved in the conflict with the aim to avoid all-out war,” the official added.
Russia said on Wednesday that the Middle East was teetering the brink of a major war and that key players were continuing to raise the stakes.
“The region is currently balancing on the brink of a global conflict,” Andrei Nastasin, deputy spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry, said. “The parties continue to raise the stakes.”
According to Reuters, Russia said the “manic desire” of the US to monopolise the process of political settlement in the Middle East had led to this situation.
Qatar PM says killing of Haniyeh could jeopardise Gaza ceasefire talks
The prime minister of Qatar, which has acted as a mediator in ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, suggested on Wednesday that the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh could jeopardise the talks.
“Political assassinations and continued targeting of civilians in Gaza while talks continue leads us to ask, how can mediation succeed when one party assassinates the negotiator on other side?” Prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani wrote on X.
“Peace needs serious partners and a global stance against the disregard for human life.”
Political assassinations & continued targeting of civilians in Gaza while talks continue leads us to ask, how can mediation succeed when one party assassinates the negotiator on the other side? Peace needs serious partners & a global stance against the disregard for human life.
— محمد بن عبدالرحمن (@MBA_AlThani_) July 31, 2024
A member of parliament from Lebanese armed group Hezbollah said on Wednesday that his group would be ready to fight a war with Israel, after an Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut targeted Hezbollah’s top military commander.
According to Reuters, Ali Ammar spoke to local broadcasters amid the ruins of Tuesday’s strike. “This enemy demands war and we are up for it, God willing, we are up for it,” Ammar said.
The assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran “will be met with a harsh and painful response,” Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards military force said in a statement on Wednesday, reports Reuters.
“Iran and the resistance front will respond to this crime,” it said, employing a term Tehran uses to refer to allied militant groups across the Middle East.
More than 39,445 Palestinians have been killed and 91,073 have been injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
The ministry of health in Gaza does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, has joined a chorus of regional officials who have condemned “Israel’s assassination” of Ismail Haniyeh. In a post on X, he said:
Israel’s continuation of its aggression against Gaza, its violation of the rights of the Palestinian people, and its crimes against them, and without international action to curb its aggression, will drag the region towards more wars and destruction.”
ندين بأشد العبارات اغتيال إسرائيل لرئيس المكتب السياسي لحماس إسماعيل هنية رحمه الله جريمة نكراء وخرقا فاضحا للقانون الدولي. استمرار إسرائيل في عدوانها على غزة واستباحتها لحقوق الشعب الفلسطيني وجرائمها ضده ومن دون فعل دولي يلجم عدوانيتها سيجر المنطقة نحو المزيد من الحروب والدمار. https://t.co/gdCYW2KZVJ
— Ayman Safadi (@AymanHsafadi) July 31, 2024
What we know so far
It is 9.51am in London, 12.21pm in Tehran and 11.51am in Tel Aviv and Gaza. If you are just joining us, here is what we know so far:
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has been killed, according to Hamas and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Israel has yet to make any comment on Haniyeh’s killing but in its statement, Hamas accused Israel of the attack. Associated Press reports that analysts on Iranian state television have also begun blaming Israel for the attack.
The Hamas statement said the group mourned Haniyeh “who died as a result of a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran, after participating in the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian president”.
Avenging Haniyeh’s assassination is “Tehran’s duty” because it occurred in the Iranian capital, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said. Khamenei said Israel had provided the grounds for “harsh punishment” for itself. Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said the country will “defend its territorial integrity, dignity, honor, and pride, and will make the terrorist occupiers regret their cowardly act”.
The assassination was reported on Iranian state TV early on Wednesday morning. In a statement, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said “The cause and dimensions of this incident are being investigated and the results will be announced later.” Iranian state media have reported that the assassination of Haniyeh took place at around 2am while he was staying at a residence for war veterans. So far little detail as come out about the exact circumstances of the killing.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Haniyeh had been targeted in his residence along with an Iranian bodyguard. It said he had been in Iran to attend the inauguration of president Masoud Pezeshkian and that the circumstances of the “incident” was being investigated.
The Times of Israel reports that Ismail Haniyeh’s funeral will be held in the Qatari capital Doha on Friday. It cites reports from the Saudi-owned Al Hadath news channel. The Guardian has been unable to verify the report.
Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk said Haniyeh’s death was a “cowardly act that will not go unpunished”, according to the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV. Another Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri has told Reuters that the killing is a grave escalation that will not achieve its goals.
Lebanon’s armed group Hezbollah issued its condolences on Wednesday after Haniyeh’s death. Hezbollah did not specifically accuse Israel but said it would make Iran-aligned groups more determined to confront Israel.
Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of Yemen’s Houthi Supreme Revolutionary Committee called Haniyeh’s killing a “heinous terrorist crime”, according to Reutersand “a flagrant violation of laws and ideal values.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has strongly condemned the killing, Palestinian state news agency Wafa reported. Palestinian national and Islamic factions have also called for a general strike and mass demonstrations in response to the assassination.
Qatar’s foreign ministry called the killing a “heinous crime” and “shameful assassination”. Turkey echoed the condemnation. “We condemn the assassination of the leader of Hamas’s political office, Ismail Haniyeh, in a shameful assassination in Tehran,” the foreign ministry said, adding that “this attack also aims to spread the Gaza war to a regional dimension”.
The Chinese foreign ministry said that the incident could lead to further regional instability.
Although Israel has not formally commented, several Israeli ministers have reacted to Haniyeh’s assassination. The heritage minister, Amichay Eliyahu, celebrated his killing, writing on X: “Haniyeh’s death makes the world a little better” and that this is the “right way to clean the world from this filth”.
Shlomo Karhi, minister of communications, wrote on X: “Yes, all your enemies will perish, O God”, although the post appeared later to have been deleted.
Amichai Chikli, minister of diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism, posted a video of the Hamas leader on X with the caption, “Careful What You Wish For”.
Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders welcomed the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh. “Good Riddance!!” the leader of the Party for Freedom wrote on social media, adding a warning for Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah.
Haniyeh was the exiled political chief of the militant group and had spent much of his time in recent years in Qatar. During the Israel-Gaza war he had acted as a negotiator in the ceasefire talks and liased with Hamas’s main ally, Iran. He was photographed in Tehran on Tuesday meeting with Khamenei, and secretary general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement, Ziyad al-Nakhalah.
Haniyeh’s death came just hours after Israel claimed it killed Hezbollah’s top military commander, Fuad Shukur, in an airstrike on a south Beirut suburb launched in retaliation for a rocket attack that killed 12 children at the weekend.
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin has held a press conference in the Philippines. He has so far said the US would defend Israel if it was attacked and that he did not think a wider war in the Middle East was inevitable.
There are fears that the deaths could escalate tensions between Israel, Hezbollah and Iran, threatening the US’ global diplomatic effort to prevent a full-blown regional conflict.
The Times of Israel is reporting that Ismail Haniyeh’s funeral will be held in the Qatari capital Doha on Friday. It cites reports from the Saudi-owned Al Hadath news channel.
The Guardian has been unable to verify the report.
Iran's Khamenei says avenging Haniyeh's killing is 'Tehran's duty'
Avenging Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination is “Tehran’s duty” because it occurred in the Iranian capital, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday.
According to Reuters, Khamenei said Israel had provided the grounds for “harsh punishment” for itself.
“We consider his revenge as our duty,” he said.
There has been no immediate comment from Israel on the strike, which took place hours after Haniyeh attended the inauguration ceremony for Iran’s new president.
Updated
Qatar warns of 'chaos' while Turkey say Haniyeah attack 'aims to spread' Gaza war to 'a regional dimension'
Haniyeh was based in Qatar, which has been a mediator in the Gaza conflict, but also spent time in Turkey after going into exile in 2017. Qatar’s foreign ministry called the killing a “heinous crime” and “shameful assassination”.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the ministry said the strike in Tehran was a “dangerous escalation” and “a flagrant violation of international and humanitarian law”.
“This assassination and the reckless Israeli behaviour of continuously targeting civilians in Gaza will lead to the region slipping into chaos and undermine the chances of peace”.
Turkey echoed the condemnation. “We condemn the assassination of the leader of Hamas’s political office, Ismail Haniyeh, in a shameful assassination in Tehran,” the foreign ministry said, adding that “this attack also aims to spread the Gaza war to a regional dimension”.
“Once again the [Benjamin] Netanyahu government has shown that it has no intention of achieving peace,” the ministry said. “If the international community does not take measures to stop Israel, our region will face much larger conflicts.”
Updated
Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan said he was "deeply saddened" to hear about the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, adding that he had become a symbol of Palestinian resistance.
"He had devoted his life to the Palestinian cause, and to bringing peace and tranquility to Palestine," Fidan said on social media platform X, sharing a photograph of himself and Haniyeh.
“We are witness to the efforts he has made recently to achieve a ceasefire. Even when his family members were massacred by Israel, he never lost his belief in peace,” he added.
Değerli Kardeşim İsmail Haniye’nin İran’da şehit edildiğini derin bir üzüntüyle öğrendim.
— Hakan Fidan (@HakanFidan) July 31, 2024
Yaşamını Filistin davasına, Filistin’e barış ve huzur gelmesine adamıştı.
Ateşkes sağlanması için son dönemde harcadığı çabanın şahidiyiz. Aile fertleri İsrail tarafından katledildiğinde… pic.twitter.com/8o7nMjfKJN
Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders has welcomed the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh.
“Good Riddance!!” the leader of the Party for Freedom wrote on social media, in addition to a warning for Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah.
“Khamenei, Nasrallah. The ones in charge. They will not be too happy now and probably not sleep too well either,” Wilders said.
Khamenei, Nasrallah.
— Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) July 31, 2024
The ones in charge.
They will not be too happy now and probably not sleep too well either.
Updated
Lebanon expects Hezbollah to retaliate for Israeli strike on Beirut, minister says
Lebanon expects Hezbollah to retaliate for an Israeli strike that targeted the armed group's most senior military commander in Beirut, and the government will engage in diplomatic efforts to calm tensions, information minister Ziad Makary said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.
Speaking after a cabinet meeting to discuss the previous evening's strike on a Beirut suburb, Makary said the cabinet is worried that the situation could spiral.
Israel claimed it killed Hezbollah’s top military commander, Fuad Shukur, in an airstrike on a south Beirut suburb launched in retaliation for a rocket attack that killed 12 children at the weekend.
Iran will 'defend it's territorial integrity' after Haniyeh assassination in Tehran, president says
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said the country will "defend its territorial integrity, dignity, honor, and pride, and will make the terrorist occupiers regret their cowardly act" of assassinating Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday.
He did not elaborate in his statement that was carried by Iranian media.
Qatar and China are the latest countries to condemn the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Qatar's foreign ministry said the killing of Haniyeh was a dangerous escalation.
The Chinese foreign ministry said that the incident could lead to further regional instability.
Lebanon's armed group Hezbollah issued its condolences on Wednesday after Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed overnight in the Iranian capital Tehran, Reuters reports.
Hezbollah did not specifically accuse Israel but said it would make Iran-aligned groups more determined to confront Israel.
Nournews, an outlet affiliated with Iran’s top security body the Supreme national security council has said the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran early on Wednesday was “a dangerous gamble to undermine Tehran’s deterrence”.
“Crossing red lines has always been costly for the enemy,” Nournews added.
Updated
A bit of analysis courtesy of New York Times correspondent Farnaz Fassihi:
Iranian officials are in utter shock over assassination of Haniyah, sources say, because it also delivers a huge blow to Iran's security reputation at a time it wants to project power in the region. State tv blamed Israel.
— Farnaz Fassihi (@farnazfassihi) July 31, 2024
And a bit extra from Vali Nasr, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at the University of John Hopkins-SAIS:
Add to this that the timing, the inauguration of a new president, dares Iran to retaliate which forces decision and course of action that Tehran likely didn’t anticipate or want https://t.co/5qWULS9Tle
— Vali Nasr (@vali_nasr) July 31, 2024
Haniyeh assassination took place at about 2am, Iran state media reports
The assassination of Ismail Haniyeh took place at around 2am while he was staying at a residence for war veterans, Iranian state media is reporting. So far little detail as come out about the exact circumstances of the killing.
Nour News reported that the building was hit by an “airborne projectile” and that “further investigations are underway to determine the details of this terrorist operation”, according to Reuters.
Who was Ismail Haniyeh?
Hamas has described the killing of its political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, as a grave escalation that will not go unanswered. His assassination in Iran will be perceived as a serious blow to efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, as talks mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt stagger forward after months of negotiations.
Haniyeh had long served as the head of Hamas’ politburo, and was seen as a moderate figure within the movement, one whose role had become vital in sustained diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire.
He was elected as the head of the political wing in 2017, before leaving Gaza for exile in Qatar two years later. From exile he became the face of the Palestinian group’s international diplomacy, shuttling between Turkey, Iran and Qatar, joining a group of Hamas leaders sheltering in Doha and unable to return to Gaza. Even so, Haniyeh was seen as a key line of communication with hardline figures like Yahya Sinwar in Gaza.
Arab diplomats and officials had viewed him as relatively pragmatic compared with other more militant voices, inside Gaza and he was described by some experts as leading the political battle for Hamas with regional governments in the Middle East.
Haniyeh’s allies and even former rivals stepped in to condemn the assassination on Wednesday, amid fears that his death during a visit to Tehran could provoke a broader response.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas called the killing “a cowardly act and a serious escalation.” The Turkish foreign ministry called the assassination “heinous.”
Read on below:
Israeli military extends detention of soldiers accused of sexual abuse of Palestinian detainee
The Israeli military says it has extended the detention of eight soldiers detained on suspicion of sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee from Gaza.
It said the court stated that there was evidence to substantiate a “reasonable suspicion that the injury to the detainee occurred at the hands of the detainees [soldiers]”. In an X post the IDF said:
The military court accepted the request of the military prosecution and extended the detention of eight suspects until Sunday, August 4. In its decision, the court stated that evidence was presented in the petitions which substantiates a reasonable suspicion that the injury to the detainee occurred at the hands of the detainees.
The court also said that “it is forbidden to harm detainees unnecessarily, no matter how serious their crimes may be,” according to the IDF.
בית הדין הצבאי קיבל את בקשת התביעה הצבאית והאריך את מעצרם של שמונה חשודים עד ליום א׳, ה-4 באוגוסט. בהחלטתו קבע בית הדין, כי הוצגו בפניות ראיות אשר מבססות חשד סביר כי הפגיעה בעצור התרחשה מידי העצורים>>
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 31, 2024
Top Hezbollah commander was in building at time of Israeli strike, group says
Lebanon’s Hezbollah has said that its senior military commander Fuad Shukr was in the Beirut building targeted by an Israeli strike on Tuesday, but has not confirmed his fate.
Israel claimed it had killed Hezbollah’s top military commander, Fuad Shukur, in an airstrike on a south Beirut suburb launched in retaliation for a rocket attack that killed 12 children at the weekend. Hezbollah has denied any involvement in the weekend attack.
Three people, including two children, were killed and 74 people injured in the Israeli attack on Beirut, the Lebanese ministry of health said.
Shukur, also known as Hajj Mohsin, served as right hand man to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Israel’s military spokesperson R Adm Daniel Hagari claimed.
An adviser for planning and directing wartime operations, Shukur was responsible for most of Hezbollah’s advanced weaponry, including precise-guided missiles, cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles, long-range rockets, and UAVs, Israel said.
He also had a $5m (£3.9m) bounty on his head in America over his role in the 1983 bombing of a US marine barracks in the Lebanese capital.
Israel has 'no intention of achieving peace', Turkey says
Turkey has condemned Haniyeh’s assassination and said the attack aimed to spread the war in Gaza on a regional level, Reuters reports, citing a statement from the foreign ministry. Apparently blaming Israel for the attack, the statement also said:
It has been revealed once again that the government of [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu has no intention of achieving peace.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kan’ani has said Haniyeh’s killing will “strengthen the deep and unbreakable bond between the Islamic Republic of Iran and dear Palestine and the Resistance,” according to Iran’s Mehr news agency.
He said the “incident” was being investigated.
Iran’s Irna news agency has posted video of what would have been some of Haniyeh’s last public moments on Tuesday:
The latest video of the martyr "Ismail Haniyeh" in Tehran and his presence in the "Land of Civilizations" exhibition pic.twitter.com/hEp8XzloiH
— IRNA News Agency (@IrnaEnglish) July 31, 2024
Key event
US defense secretary Lloyd Austin has held a press conference in the Philippines. He has so far said the US would defend Israel if it was attacked and that he did not think a wider war in the Middle East was inevitable.
His remarks come after Israel claimed on Tuesday to have killed the Hezbollah commander who it said was behind a deadly strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Reuters reported.
Asked also if he could confirm information about another strike that killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran on Wednesday, Austin said: “I don’t have any additional information to provide”.
Updated
Summary
If you’re just joining us, here’s what we know so far:
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has been killed, according to Hamas and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Israel has yet to make any comment on Haniyeh’s killing but in its statement, Hamas accused Israel of the attack. Associated Press reports that analysts on Iranian state television have also begun blaming Israel for the attack.
The Hamas statement said the group mourned Haniyeh “who died as a result of a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran, after participating in the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian president”.
The assassination was reported on Iranian State TV early on Wednesday morning. In a statement, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said “The cause and dimensions of this incident are being investigated and the results will be announced later.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Haniyeh had been targeted in his residence along with an Iranian bodyguard. It said he had been in Iran to attend the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian and that the circumstances of the “incident” was being investigated.
Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk said Haniyeh’s death “cowardly act that will not go unpunished”, according to the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV. Another Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri has told Reuters that the killing is a grave escalation that will not achieve its goals.
Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of Yemen’s Houthi Supreme Revolutionary Committee called Haniyeh’s killing a “heinous terrorist crime”, according to Reutersand “a flagrant violation of laws and ideal values.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has strongly condemned the killing, Palestinian state news agency Wafa reported. Palestinian national and Islamic factions have also called for a general strike and mass demonstrations in response to the assassination.
Although Israel has not formally commented, several Israeli ministers have reacted to Haniyeh’s assassination. The heritage minister, Amichay Eliyahu, celebrated his killing, writing on X: “Haniyeh’s death makes the world a little better” and that this is the “right way to clean the world from this filth”.
Shlomo Karhi, minister of communications, wrote on X: “Yes, all your enemies will perish, O God”, although the post appeared later to have been deleted.
Amichai Chikli, minister of diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism, posted a video of the Hamas leader on X with the caption, “Careful What You Wish For”.
Haniyeh was the exiled political chief of the militant group and had spent much of his time in recent years in Qatar. During the Israel-Gaza war he had acted as a negotiator in the ceasefire talks and liased with Hamas’s main ally, Iran. He was photographed in Tehran on Tuesday meeting with Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, and secretary general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement, Ziyad al-Nakhalah.
Haniyeh’s death came just hours after Israel claimed it killed Hezbollah’s top military commander, Fuad Shukur, in an airstrike on a south Beirut suburb launched in retaliation for a rocket attack that killed 12 children at the weekend.
There are fears that the deaths could escalate tensions between Israel, Hezbollah and Iran, threatening the US’ global diplomatic effort to prevent a full-blown regional conflict.
The killing of Ismail Haniyeh is an “absolutely unacceptable political assassination”, the Russian deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov has told the state news agency Ria. He said:
This is an absolutely unacceptable political murder, and it will lead to further escalation of tensions.
Bogdanov said the killing would also have a negative impact on ceasefire talks in Gaza, Ria added.
Updated
Israeli military 'conducting situation assessment', military says
The Israeli military’s spokesperson Daniel Hagari has posted an update on his X account, saying there are “no changes in the home defence policy”. He says further:
At this time, the IDF is conducting a situation assessment. If any changes are decided, we will update the public immediately on the platforms of the IDF and the Home Front Command. You must stay informed and act according to the instructions of the Home Front Command.
אין שינויים במדיניות ההתגוננות בעורף. בשעה זו צה"ל מקיים הערכת מצב. במידה ויוחלט על שינוי כלשהו, נעדכן את הציבור באופן מיידי בפלטפורמות של צה״ל ופיקוד העורף. יש להישאר מעודכנים ולפעול על פי הנחיות פיקוד העורף
— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי - Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) July 31, 2024
In a separate post, the military said it had “successfully intercepted a suspicious aerial target” coming from Lebanon overnight.
מוקדם יותר הבוקר לוחמי ההגנה האווירית יירטו בהצלחה מטרה אווירית חשודה שעשתה את דרכה מלבנון לשטח הארץ.
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 31, 2024
המטרה לא חצתה לשטח הארץ ולא הופעלו התרעות על פי מדיניות.
בהמשך להתרעה שהופעלה במרחב שאר ישוב לפני זמן קצר, מדובר בזיהוי שווא
Updated
While all eyes are on the killing of Haniyeh in Iran, the Associated Press reports that a strike on Tuesday night on a base southwest of Baghdad killed four members of the Kataib Hezbollah militia, citing Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of Iranian-backed militias.
The group accused the US of being behind the strike.
Kataib Hezbollah, along with some of the other militias, has in recent months carried out attacks against bases housing US troops in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for Washington’s support for Israel in the war in Gaza. US officials did not immediately comment.
Iran's supreme national security council has convened – report
Iran’s supreme national security council has met with senior commanders from the Revolutionary Guards to discuss Haniyeh’s assassination, a source has told Reuters.
Israel has refrained from killing Hamas leaders in Qatar recently, where the exiled Haniyeh was based; the fact that he was in Tehran when he was targeted is therefore noteworthy.
Several Israeli ministers have reacted to Haniyeh’s assassination, although Israel has not formally commented on it yet.
The heritage minister, Amichay Eliyahu, celebrated his killing, writing on X: “Haniyeh’s death makes the world a little better” and that this is the “right way to clean the world from this filth”.
Shlomo Karhi, minister of communications, wrote on X: “Yes, all your enemies will perish, O God”, although it later appeared to have been deleted.
Amichai Chikli, minister of diaspora affairs and combating anti-semitism, posted a video of the Hamas leader on X with the caption “Careful What You Wish For”.
Abbas condemns Haniyeh killing, Palestinian factions call for general strike
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has strongly condemned the killing of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Palestinian state news agency Wafa is reporting, calling it a “cowardly act and [a] dangerous development”.
Abbas also called on Palestinians “to unite, be patient and steadfast in the face of the Israeli occupation”, Wafa said, according to Al Jazeera.
Palestinian national and Islamic factions have called for a general strike and mass demonstrations in response to the assassination.
Updated
Israel has a long history of assassinating Palestinian leaders and activists, including Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin in 2004, his Hamas co-founder Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi in 2004 and co-founder of the Fatah party Abu Jihad in 1988.
Earlier this month it attempted to kill Mohammed Deif in an airstrike on Khan Younis that levelled several buildings in Khan Younis and killed 90 people. Deif was one of the masterminds of the 7 October attack on Israel.
But it remains unclear whether Deif is dead; he had survived at least seven Israeli assassination attempts.
Updated
Here’s a bit more on Haniyeh’s background, courtesy of Reuters:
As a young man, Haniyeh was a student activist at the Islamic University in Gaza City. He joined Hamas when it was created in the First Palestinian intifada (uprising) in 1987. He was arrested and briefly deported.
Haniyeh became a protégé of Hamas’ founder Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, who like Haniyeh’s family, was a refugee from the village of Al Jura near Ashkelon.
In 1994, he told Reuters that Yassin was a model for young Palestinians, saying: “We learned from him love of Islam and sacrifice for this Islam and not to kneel down to these tyrants and despots.”
By 2003 he was a trusted Yassin aide, photographed in Yassin’s Gaza home holding a phone to the almost completely paralysed Hamas founder’s ear so that he could take part in a conversation. Yassin was assassinated by Israel in 2004.
Haniyeh was an early advocate of Hamas entering politics. In 1994, he said that forming a political party “would enable Hamas to deal with emerging developments”.
Initially overruled by the Hamas leadership, it was later approved and Haniyeh become Palestinian prime minister after the group won Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006 a year after Israel’s military withdrew from Gaza.
The group took control of Gaza in 2007.
In 2012, when asked by Reuters reporters if Hamas had abandoned the armed struggle, Haniyeh replied “of course not” and said resistance would continue “in all forms - popular resistance, political, diplomatic and military resistance”.
Broadcaster Al-Jazeera has posted a full copy of Hamas’ statement on Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination. Here it is:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful (And do not think that those who are killed in the way of Allah are dead. Rather, they are alive with their Lord, receiving provision.)
The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas mourns to our great Palestinian people, to the Arab and Islamic nation, and to all the free people of the world: Brother, leader, martyr, Mujahid Ismail Haniyeh.
The head of the movement, who was killed in a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran, after participating in the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian president. To Allah we belong and to Him we shall return. And it is a jihad, victory or martyrdom.
Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of Yemen’s Houthi Supreme Revolutionary Committee, has called Haniyeh’s killing a “heinous terrorist crime” according to Reuters:
Targeting Ismail Haniyeh is a heinous terrorist crime and a flagrant violation of laws and ideal values.
Haniyeh has previously said that 60 of his relatives had been killed since the start of the war triggered by Hamas’s deadly attacks on southern Israel in October.
Most recently, in April he said three of his sons and at least two grandchildren had been killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza. Israel’s military confirmed it had targeted Haniyeh’s sons, who it described as “three Hamas operatives” who were “on their way to carry out terrorist activities”.
Haniyeh said at the time: “All our people and all the families of Gaza have paid a heavy price in blood, and I am one of them.”
Here’s the Guardian’s full report on the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh from our correspondent Emma Graham-Harrison:
Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, has been targeted and killed in Tehran, the group said in a statement early on Wednesday morning.
The Hamas statement said the group mourned Haniyeh “who died as a result of a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran, after participating in the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian president”.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard confirmed the assassination, which was reported on Iranian State TV early on Wednesday morning, with analysts also claiming Israel killed Haniyeh, the AP said.
The Israeli military declined to comment. Israel has a history of covert assassinations inside Iran, mostly hitting scientists working on the country’s nuclear programme.
The death of Haniyeh is damaging to Hamas, but he was not involved in the military operations on the ground in Gaza, and the group has survived past assassinations of its leadership.
In 2004, Israel killed both Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin and co-founder Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi in attacks in Gaza.
Haniyeh’s death came just hours after Israel claimed it killed Hezbollah’s top military commander, Fuad Shukur, in an airstrike on a south Beirut suburb launched in retaliation for a rocket attack that killed 12 children at the weekend.
The death of Haniyeh is damaging to Hamas, but he was not involved in the military operations on the ground in Gaza, and the group has survived past assassinations of its leadership.
In 2004, Israel killed both Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin and co-founder Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi in attacks in Gaza.
Haniyeh’s death came just hours after Israel claimed it killed Hezbollah’s top military commander, Fuad Shukur, in an airstrike on a south Beirut suburb launched in retaliation for a rocket attack that killed 12 children at the weekend.
The US had been leading a global diplomatic effort to prevent tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, which is backed by Tehran, from escalating into full blown regional conflict.
The two assassinations now raise the stakes not just for Hamas and Hezbollah, but Iran, which backs both groups.
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Haniyeh's assassination a grave escalation, Hamas official says
The assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran is a grave escalation that will not achieve its goals, Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri has told Reuters:
This assassination by the Israeli occupation of Brother Haniyeh is a grave escalation that aims to break the will of Hamas and the will of our people and achieve fake goals. We confirm that this escalation will fail to achieve its objectives.
Hamas is a concept and an institution and not persons. Hamas will continue on this path regardless of the sacrifices and we are confident of victory.
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A few more photos of Ismail Haniyeh from over the years:
Ismail Haniyeh assassination in Iran is a “cowardly act that will not go unpunished”, Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV has cited senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk as saying.
Hamas’ leadership arrangements can be opaque to outsiders. Ismail Haniyeh was officially the chair of the group’s political political bureau and lived in exile, while Yahya Sinwar is the leader of Hamas in Gaza and was reportedly the mastermind of the 7 October attack on Israel. Khaled Mashal is also a prominent Hamas political leader who lives in exile.
My colleague, Jason Burke, wrote an explainer on Hamas’ strength and the possibility of a Gaza ceasefire at the end of last year and in it he delved into Hamas’ leadership structure. Here’s an excerpt:
In theory, Hamas is run by a leadership council or “shura’” drawn from regional councils elected by Hamas members in Gaza, the West Bank and by prisoners in Israeli jails. In reality, the organisation is riven by factional disputes and personality clashes.
One split divides the military from the political wings. Another pits the leaders in Gaza, who have lived for decades in the crosshairs of Israel’s security agencies or spent years in Israeli jails, against senior figures overseas in Qatar, Turkey, Lebanon or elsewhere who live in relative comfort and security.
This is aggravated by personality clashes. Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, is said to be barely on speaking terms with Khaled Mashal, who is the best-known of the organisation’s political leaders and based in Qatar.
It is unclear if Sinwar briefed the political leadership in Qatar and Lebanon on the planned 7 October attacks but this is thought unlikely by experts – adding to the resentment.
The relatively pragmatic Ismail Haniyeh, the chair of Hamas’s political bureau, tries to mediate among the factions, though with little success, experts say.
Haniyeh also has his own job to do. “Haniyeh is leading the political battle for Hamas with Arab governments,” said Adeeb Ziadeh, a specialist in Palestinian affairs at Qatar University. “He is the political and diplomatic front of Hamas.”
The internal disputes complicate this task. In recent weeks, Haniyeh has moved between Turkey and Qatar’s capital, Doha, escaping the travel restrictions of the blockaded Gaza Strip and enabling him to act as a negotiator in the earlier ceasefire deal or talk to Hamas’s main ally, Iran.
But the final yes or no comes from Sinwar. When during recent talks Sinwar decided to cut off communications, negotiations stalled. “This pretty effectively underlined who is calling the shots,” said one European diplomatic source briefed the negotiations.
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Here is the full statement from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards:
With condolences to the heroic nation of Palestine and the Islamic nation and the fighters of the resistance front and the noble nation of Iran, this morning [Wednesday] the residence of Mr. Dr. Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political office of the Islamic resistance of Hamas, was hit in Tehran, and following this incident, he and one of his bodyguards was martyred.
The cause and dimensions of this incident are being investigated and the results will be announced later.
Israel has yet to make any comment on Ismail Haniyeh’s killing but in its statement Hamas accused it of responsibility. Associated Press reports that analysts on Iranian state television have also begun blaming Israel for the attack. The agency writes:
Israel itself did not immediately comment but it often doesn’t when it comes to assassinations carried out by their Mossad intelligence agency.
Israel is suspected of running a years-long assassination campaign targeting Iranian nuclear scientists and others associated with its atomic program.In 2020, a top Iranian military nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was killed by a remote-controlled machine gun while traveling in a car outside Tehran.
Here is some of the last images of Ismail Haniyeh – he was photographed in Tehran on Tuesday meeting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (R) and secretary general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement Ziyad al-Nakhalah (L).
Updated
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh killed in Iran, group says
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has been killed in Tehran, the Palestinian militant group Hamas has said.
In a statement, the Islamist faction mourned the death of Haniyeh, who it said was killed in “a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran”.
Earlier, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said he had been targeted in his residence along with an Iranian bodyguard. It said he had been in Iran to attend the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian. It said it was investigating the circumstances of the “incident”.
Israel has yet to comment on his killing.
Haniyeh was the exiled political chief of the militant group and had spent much of his time in recent years in Qatar and Turkey. Considered a pragmatist, he had acted as a negotiator in the ceasefire talks during the Israel-Gaza war, liaised with Hamas’s main ally, Iran, and met with the Turkish president.
Haniyeh was also said to maintain good relations with the heads of the various Palestinian factions, including rivals to Hamas.
Haniyeh was elected head of the Hamas political bureau in 2017 to succeed Khaled Meshaal, but 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.
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Opening summary
Welcome to our live coverage of events in the Middle East.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has been killed in Iran, the militant group has confirmed in a statement.
Earlier, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said he had been targeted in his residence along with an Iranian bodyguard. It said he had been in Iran to attend the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian. It said it was investigating the circumstances of the “incident”.
Haniyeh was the exiled political chief of the militant group and had spent much of his time in recent years in Qatar.
Here is a summary of the latest developments.
Israel says it has killed Hezbollah’s top military commander, Fuad Shukur, in an airstrike on a south Beirut suburb launched in retaliation for a rocket attack that killed 12 children at the weekend. Shukur, also known as Hajj Mohsin, served as right hand man to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Israel’s military spokesperson R Adm Daniel Hagari said in a briefing on Tuesday night.
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin does not believe that a fight between Israel and Hezbollah is inevitable, and said Washington would like to see things resolved in a diplomatic fashion, Reuters reports. “While we’ve seen a lot of activity on Israel’s northern border, we remain concerned about the potential of this escalating into a full-blown fight. And I don’t believe that a fight is inevitable,” Austin said. “We’d like to see things resolved in a diplomatic fashion.” Austin made the comments on Tuesday at a joint press conference in Manila.
Israel’s military has charged a reservist with aggravated abuse of Palestinian prisoners, a spokesperson said on Tuesday, as nine other soldiers appeared in military court for an initial hearing over allegations they had sexually abused a detainee from Gaza. The other soldiers detained on Monday are accused of raping and attacking a Palestinian prisoner at the Sde Teiman detention centre so violently that he was taken to hospital in critical condition, Israeli media reported.
Gaza official says 300 people were killed in Israel’s assault on Khan Younis. Thousands of Palestinians returned home on Tuesday after the assault came to an end. Gaza’s civil defence agency said Tuesday that the Israeli operation in and around the city killed about 300 people since it began last week.
Two air defence bases in southern Syria have been struck by Israeli missiles, a war monitor has said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported no casualties in the overnight strikes in Daraa province, which abuts the armistice line separating Syrian and Israeli forces on the Golan.
Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday called on Israel not to fall into the “trap” of retaliation, saying she was “very, very worried” by the situation in Lebanon and by the risk of a regional escalation. Speaking during an official visit to China, Meloni said the international community should continue sending messages of moderation, and that China could help in these efforts, having “solid ties” with Iran and Saudi Arabia.
