‘Eliminated’: Israeli media office highlights killing of Haniyeh
Despite the lack of official confirmation by Israeli authorities, the Israeli government press office posted a photo on its Facebook page of Ismail Haniyeh with “Eliminated” written across his head.
"Eliminated: Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas highest-ranking leader was killed in a precise strike in Tehran, Iran,” it said in a Facebook post.
The post – visible for more than an hour – was removed earlier this morning. Israel has not officially commented on the Hamas leader’s killing.
Israel is not interested in peace
Just when you thought the situation in the Middle East couldn’t get any more incendiary, the assassination of Hamas’s political chief has propelled regional tensions to a whole new level of bad.
One Israeli official, Minister of Heritage Amichai Eliyahu, apparently couldn’t contain his exuberance and took to X to proclaim: “This is the right way to clean the world of this filth. … Haniyeh’s death makes the world a little better.”
Israel is doing its best to provoke its enemies into committing bellicose acts that Israel itself can then use as an excuse to keep waging war.
Sri Lanka’s Wickremesinghe condemns killing of Hamas chief
Sri Lankan media reports say President Ranil Wickremesinghe has expressed his strong condemnation of Haniyeh’s killing.
Wickremesinghe reportedly made the comments during a meeting with former provincial council members of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) & the United National Party (UNP) today.
According to his media division, Wickremesinghe said that unequivocally he would never condone such actions.
Israel aims to ‘involve the US’ in wider regional conflict
Abas Aslani, senior research fellow at the Tehran-based Center for Middle East Strategic Studies, has told Al Jazeera that Iran is expected to respond to Israel “in a very harsh manner”.
“We see that Prime Minister Netanyahu is doing everything he can to prolong the war and expand the conflict. Over the past nine months, Israel has been making efforts to extend and escalate the war to a broader regional scale. They also aim to involve the US in this conflict,” Aslani said, adding that any reaction from the West should be viewed in this context.
“This may also complicate Iran’s communications with Western countries. Ultimately, Netanyahu’s actions are intended to complicate the Democratic campaign [in the US] and bolster Donald Trump’s position by expanding the scope of the war,” he said.
