Israel acknowledges it killed ex-Hamas leader Haniyeh in Tehran

Defence Minister Israel Katz on Monday acknowledged that Israel had killed former Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran earlier this year, as he warned the military would “decapitate” the leadership of Yemen’s Huthi rebels.

“We will strike hard at the Huthis… and decapitate their leadership — just as we did with Haniyeh, (Yahya) Sinwar, and (Hassan) Nasrallah in Tehran, Gaza, and Lebanon, we will do so in Hodeida and Sanaa,” Katz said.

His remarks at an event at the defence ministry mark the first public acknowledgement that Israel was behind the late July killing of Haniyeh in the Iranian capital.

“Anyone who raises a hand against Israel will have his hand cut off, and the long arm of the IDF (Israeli military) will strike him and hold him accountable,” Katz said, according to a statement issued by the ministry.

Until now Israel had never admitted to killing Haniyeh, but Iran and Hamas had blamed it for the Hamas political leader’s death.

Haniyeh, who was seen as leading Hamas’s negotiation efforts for a ceasefire in Gaza, was killed in a guesthouse in Tehran on July 31, reportedly by an explosive device that had been placed by Israeli operatives weeks before.

A day earlier, Haniyeh had attended the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

On September 27, Israel killed Nasrallah in a Beirut bombing, which was followed by the killing of Haniyeh’s successor Sinwar on October 16 in Gaza.

Israeli officials say Sinwar masterminded the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel, which sparked the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.