Israel just assassinated the one capable of negotiating for Hamas. Israel is not interested in a ceasefire at all.
Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Tehran
Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh has been killed in the Iranian capital Tehran, the Palestinian group has said in a statement.
Hamas has said that Haniyeh was killed in “a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran”.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said Ismail Haniyeh was killed in his Tehran residence along with one of his bodyguards, according to local media reports.
“The residence of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political office of Hamas Islamic Resistance, was hit in Tehran, and as a result of this incident, him and one of his bodyguards were martyred,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Sepah news website said.
On May 6, 2017, Hamas, the Palestinian political movement that rules the Gaza Strip, elected Ismail Abdulsalam Ahmed Haniyeh as the head of its political bureau, replacing Khaled Meshaal.
Born in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza to parents who fled from the city of Asqalan after the State of Israel was created in 1948, Haniyeh studied at the al-Azhar Institute in Gaza and later at Gaza’s Islamic University, from which he graduated with a degree in Arabic literature.
While at university in 1983, he joined the Islamic Student Bloc, a precursor to Hamas. He climbed the ranks within Hamas as a close aide and assistant to Hamas’s co-founder, the late Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
Haniyeh was imprisoned multiple times by Israeli authorities and lived in and out of the Gaza Strip after facing deportation and assassination attempts. Earlier this year, an Israeli attack killed three of his sons in northern Gaza.
Fear, worry in Gaza after Haniyeh’s assassination
This is quite a sudden turn of events. It is quite significant for the people of Gaza, who see Haniyeh as not just the political head of Hamas but also the leader of negotiations they hope will result in a ceasefire that will put an end to this relentless war in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinians across Gaza and the West Bank also view Ismail Haniyeh as a moderate leader who is much more pragmatic compared with others who head the military side of the movement. He is very popular here. He grew up in a refugee camp and he represents the vast majority of the people who are the descendants of the refugee families who were displaced from the Palestinian territories in 1948.
This news is resonating very negatively here.
People here are saying this war is taking another turn for the worse and fear that any de-escalation in this war is now not going to happen. And they see many more difficult days ahead, especially when it comes to negotiations for a ceasefire deal.
Haniyeh’s assassination ‘will not go unpunished’, says Hamas official
The assassination of Ismail Haniyeh is a “cowardly act that will not go unpunished”, Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV has quoted senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk as saying.
Senior Hamas spokesperson calls Haniyeh assassination ‘grave escalation’
Senior Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri has described the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh as a “grave escalation that will not achieve its goals”, the Reuters news agency reports.
Zuhri has also reportedly said Hamas will wage “open war to liberate Jerusalem” and the group is “ready to pay various prices” to do so, according to local media reports.
A Hamas statement said Haniyeh was killed in a “treacherous Zionist raid” on his residence in the Iranian capital Tehran. The Israeli government is yet to issue an official statement on the attack.
