Hamas leader Ismail Haniya killed in Iran

Hamas political leader Ismail Haniya has been killed in Iran, both the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Hamas confirmed on Wednesday.

Haniya was attacked at his residence in the Iranian capital Tehran, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said. One of his bodyguards was also killed in the attack. Earlier in the day, Haniya was reported to have attended the inauguration of Iran's new president, Masoud Pezeshkian.

Hamas confirmed the news, saying in a statement that Haniya was killed in an Israeli raid on his residence in Tehran after attending Pezeshkian's inauguration. The news has not yet been confirmed by Israel.

Haniya, 62, was a Palestinian politician widely regarded as the main political leader of Hamas, the extremist Palestinian organisation that has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007.

News of the attack on Haniya comes just hours after Israel launched a missile strike on a suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut, reportedly killing a Hezbollah commander. The attack was in retaliation for a Hezbollah attack on Majdal Shams, a village in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which killed 12 children on Saturday. 

^{Ismail Haniyeh speaks to the press after a meeting with the Iranian foreign minister in Tehran on 26 March 2024 © PHOTO AFP}