Hamas terror chief boasted of his freedom. Hours later, he was dead
By James Crisp and Akhtar Makoii
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was relaxed as he strolled through the streets of Tehran the evening before his assassination on the suspected orders of Israel.
At ease in a black jacket, white shirt and no tie, Haniyeh gave what proved to be his final television interview after attending the inauguration of Iran’s new president on Wednesday.
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh arrives at the Iranian parliament to attend the swearing-in ceremony of newly elected President Masoud Pezeshkian, in Tehran on Tuesday.Credit: AP
“Resistance means we are proud to walk the streets of civilised countries and travel from one nation to another,” Haniyeh told the journalist.
Having left Gaza in 2017, he appeared to enjoy the freedom of openly appearing in public with officials from Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Lebanese Hezbollah.
Hours later, Haniyeh would be dead, his Iranian protectors humiliated, and the Middle East left teetering on the brink of all-out war.
Haniyeh had been in and out of Israeli prisons on terrorism charges in the 1980s, but such privations were a distant memory to the public face of Hamas’ October 7 attacks.
Iranian workers in Tehran install a huge banner on a wall showing a portrait of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and the Dome of Rock Mosque at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound of Jerusalem with a sign which reads in Farsi and Hebrew: “Wait for severe punishment”. Credit: AP
He has lived in luxury in Doha, Qatar, since 2016; a far cry from the al-Shati refugee camp where he was born in 1962 after his parents had fled the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
He had cheered and prayed with other Hamas bosses as he watched the atrocities of October 7 unfold on television in his office in the wealthy Gulf state.
In Iran, Israel’s great rival in the Middle East, a grinning Haniyeh was welcomed as a hero.
Waving and pressing his heart in gratitude, his white beard neatly trimmed, he glad-handed dignitaries at President Masoud Pezeshkian’s inauguration in the Iranian parliament on Tuesday.
Chants from politicians of “death to Israel, death to the USA” rang out at the ceremony.
Pezeshkian embraced Haniyeh warmly before the Hamas leader was granted an audience with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader.
Haniyeh wished Khamenei “a long and healthy life” during their meeting.
In a matter of hours, he would be dead in the veterans’ residence where Iran’s proxy warriors were being hosted.
A young woman reacts during a protest to condemn the killing of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, at al-Bass Palestinian refugee camp, in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon.Credit: AP
The 2am explosion that killed Haniyeh and his bodyguards was reported by Israeli media to have been an air strike launched from within Iran.
Deep, perhaps unprecedented, Mossad infiltration
Whether the munition was delivered by drone or a different kind of projectile, a launch from inside Iran would suggest deep, perhaps unprecedented, infiltration by Mossad.
“It was a missile,” Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official, told reporters in Tehran.
Hundreds of protesting Iranians take part in a protest against the killing of Ismail Haniyeh in Palestine Square in Tehran.Credit: Getty Images
“The missile targeted the room where Ismail Haniyeh was present. The impact of the missile caused the windows to shatter and the walls to collapse. Investigation by our Iranian brothers is ongoing.”
The assassination came less than 24 hours after a senior Hezbollah commander was killed in an Israeli air strike in Beirut in revenge for the death of 12 children in a missile attack.
Haniyeh escaped an earlier attempt on his life in the early 2000s before he won fame in 2006 after leading Hamas to an election victory and ultimately its takeover of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli air strikes killed three of Haniyeh’s sons and four of his grandchildren in April. Even so, he continued the ceasefire negotiations.
“My father survived four assassination attempts during his patriotic journey, and today Allah has granted him the martyrdom that he always wished for,” said Abdul Salam Haniyeh, the dead terror chief’s son.
“We affirm that this assassination will not deter the resistance, which will fight until freedom is achieved.”
The assassination has plunged the Middle East into dangerous waters.
It was “an escalatory crime that will push towards more tension and chaos in the region”, Sufyan Al-Qudah, a spokesman for Jordan’s foreign ministry, warned.
“I don’t think war is inevitable. I maintain that. I think there’s always room and opportunities for diplomacy,” Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary, said in the Philippines.
Israel has not claimed responsibility for Haniyeh’s death but, as far as a humiliated Iran was concerned, there was no doubt who was responsible.
As loudspeakers on mosques relayed the news of Haniyeh’s death across Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, the Islamic Republic’s leaders vowed “harsh and painful” revenge.
“Yesterday, I raised his victorious hand, and today, I must take his body on my shoulders,” Pezeshkian said.
In an unprecedented move, the Supreme Leader attended a meeting of Islamic Republic’s Supreme National Security Council on Wednesday morning to plot the response.
Iran’s embarrassment was compounded by the boasts of its outgoing intelligence minister just six days ago.
Esmail Khatib had crowed that his biggest achievement in office was “breaking up Mossad’s infiltration network”.
“We are waiting for our officials to kill someone in Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv for Tehran,” one presenter raged on Iranian state TV.
Outside the University of Tehran, a few dozen people gathered to chant “Death to Israel”.
“The Zionists have just dug their own graves with their own hands,” one Revolutionary Guards official told The Telegraph.
“We have been at war with Israel for the past four decades, and they have just made it official.”
Calls for all-out war
And a member of the Basij paramilitary group, calling for all-out war said: “We should use the opportunity they gave us to show them who is the real power in the region.”
There was anxiety as well as anger within Iran. “I was hoping that with the new president, we would have some peace, but now I am worried that we may have to leave Tehran again,” said Afshin, a shopkeeper in the capital.
He and his family fled Tehran when Iran fired about 300 suicide drones and missiles at Israel in April, almost all of which were shot down by the US, UK, and Israel.
“Why should this guy be here? Everyone knows Israel is looking for him, and we host him in the heart of Tehran,” added Afshin.
Iran has declared three days of mourning for Haniyeh, whose funeral will be held in Tehran on Thursday.
The fear now is that the Hamas leader’s funeral could be the first of many, if his assassination triggers a wider war in the Middle East.
The Telegraph, London
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