Death waited for Ismail Haniyeh for 2 months in a posh Tehran locality.
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed in a bomb blast at a guesthouse in Tehran, according to a report by The New York Times.
The assassination has escalated the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
According to the reports, the bomb was smuggled into the heavily guarded guesthouse in a posh locality of Tehran and waited for over two months for Haniyeh’s arrival.
The guesthouse which was a part of a larger compound used by the IRGC for secret meetings and housing important guests became the site of the fatal explosion.
Haniyeh, who led Hamas’ political delegation in Qatar, had landed in Tehran to attend the oath taking ceremony of Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian.
On Tuesday morning, as Haniyeh settled into his room, the assassins remotely exploded the bomb.
The blast shattered windows, collapsed a portion of the wall, and killed Haniyeh along with his bodyguard.
Also read: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Tehran
Hamas has denounced the attack as a “treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran” and labeled it a “grave escalation” in the conflict.
The Palestinian group directly blamed Israel of engineering the assassination.
While Israel has not officially claimed responsibility, the NYT report indicates that Israeli intelligence officials had briefed Western counterparts about the covert operation shortly after it was executed.
However, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken denied any prior knowledge of the plot by the U.S.
Israel’s recent killing of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ political leader and lead negotiator, completely undermines any chance of achieving a ceasefire in Gaza anytime soon. That, along with Israel’s escalations in several other countries, continues to bring us closer and closer to a… pic.twitter.com/6mOjCD9hIz
— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) August 1, 2024
Initial speculation suggested Haniyeh might have been killed by a missile strike, but questions arose about how such an attack could bypass Tehran’s air defenses.
Further investigation confirmed that the blast originated from within the room.
The bomb’s successful placement and detonation point to a significant security breach.
Despite rigorous IRGC protection, the assassins found and exploited a gap in Iranian security to smuggle and conceal the bomb for months.
The precise planning ensured minimal damage to the adjacent room, occupied by Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah.
The assassination has deeply embarrassed Iranian officials, who are now scrambling to uncover how and when the bomb was planted.
A medical team on-site declared Haniyeh and his bodyguard dead, unable to revive them despite immediate efforts.
Mossad, Israel’s spy and foreign intelligence agency, is widely believed to be behind the operation.
Mossad chief David Barnea had previously pledged to target Hamas leaders following the October 7 attacks.
Barnea’s remarks echoed Israel’s historical response to the 1972 Munich massacre, where Mossad’s “Operation Wrath of God” sought to avenge the murder of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian operatives.
