Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also confirmed the death of Haniyeh, hours after he attended a swearing-in ceremony for the country’s new president Masoud Pezeshkian, and said it was investigating.

In a statement carried by Iranian media, Pezeshkian said Iran would “defend its territorial integrity, dignity, honor, and pride, and will make the terrorist occupiers regret their cowardly act.”

This is Ismail Haniyeh on the morning of October 7th, 2023, praising Allah for the Hamas attack that killed 1,200 Jews and Israelis. Today, Ismail Haniyeh was blown into a million pieces by the IDF. “Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” Psalm 121:4 https://t.co/fpDYrWBmGZ

— Now The End Begins (@NowTheEndBegins) July 31, 2024

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard echoed Khamenei’s warning of retaliation against Israel:

“Undoubtedly, this crime committed by the Zionist regime will be met with a harsh and painful response from the powerful and vast resistance front, particularly from Islamic Iran,” a statement said.

It was the second high-profile assassination attributed to Israel in a matter of hours, coming after an airstrike in Beirut that killed Hezbollah’s top military leader. There was no immediate comment on the Tehran strike from Israeli authorities.

Israel had vowed to kill Haniyeh and other leaders of Hamas after the Gaza-based terror group’s devastating October 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Haniyeh, normally based in Qatar, has been the face of the Palestinian terror group’s international diplomacy as the war triggered by the attack has raged in the Gaza Strip, where three of his sons were killed in an Israeli airstrike. He is the most senior Hamas official killed since the war started.

One of Haniyeh’s bodyguards was also killed, the IRGC said. An Israeli military spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and there was no official comment from Israel. READ MORE