{"id":4608,"date":"2024-08-01T16:51:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-01T16:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/iran-threatens-retribution-following-the-killing-of-hamass-political-leader\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T07:24:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T07:24:34","slug":"iran-threatens-retribution-following-the-killing-of-hamass-political-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/iran-threatens-retribution-following-the-killing-of-hamass-political-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran threatens retribution following the killing of Hamas\u2019s political leader."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Iran has threatened that it will deliver a \u201charsh punishment\u201d against Israel following the
assassination of Hamas\u2019s leader in an explosion.<\/p>\n

Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, was killed instantly inside his home in Tehran with some reports suggesting that a bomb had been placed inside the apartment months earlier and detonated by remote control.
The threat of retaliation by Tehran raises the stakes in the Middle East with the two most powerful countries in the region moving ever closer to all out war.
The Israeli government has not commented directly on the missile strike which killed Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran early on July 31st.
But Israel\u2019s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country had delivered \u201ccrushing blows\u201d to its enemies in recent days, including the killing of a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon hours before the Tehran strike.
Netanyahu warned Israelis that \u201cchallenging days lie ahead\u201d, as fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East grow.
\u201cSince the strike in Beirut, we have heard threats from all sides,\u201d he said in a televised address.
\u201cWe are prepared for any scenario and we will stand united and determined.\u201d
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned against a \u201cdangerous escalation\u201d of hostilities in the region.
When and how Iran will attack Israel is unclear but the very fact that Tehran has announced that it will respond means that some sort of violent response can be considered highly likely.
Hamas\u2019s armed wing said the death of Haniyeh, who was widely viewed as the group\u2019s overall leader, would \u201ctake the battle to new dimensions\u201d and have major repercussions.
The group attacked Israel on 7 October, killing around 1,200 people. Since the attack, Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas.
Haniyeh, who played an important role in negotiations over a ceasefire in Gaza, was killed hours after attending the inauguration of Iran\u2019s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, in Tehran.
A senior Hamas official told the BBC the killing took place in the same building where Haniyeh had stayed during previous visits to Iran.
Three Hamas leaders and a number of guards were with him in the same building, they said.
Khalil Al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official, told a news conference that a missile hit Haniyeh \u201cdirectly\u201d, citing witnesses who were with him.
The group\u2019s leadership has been left in \u201ca state of shock\u201d, top Hamas officials have told the BBC.
Hours before Haniyeh was targeted, Israel said it had killed senior Hezbollah leader Fuad Shukr in Beirut.
Israel believes he was responsible for a rocket attack that killed 12 people in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday. Hezbollah has denied any involvement.
The Iran-backed group confirmed Shukr\u2019s body was found among the rubble of the residential building which was struck. Four other people, including two children, were killed.
A response from Hezbollah is almost certain. In the past, the heavily-armed, Iranian-supported group has responded to the killings of senior members by firing barrages of rockets into Israel.
The US has updated its travel guidance for citizens, advising them not to travel to Lebanon due to \u201crising tensions\u201d, and the UK foreign secretary has urged nationals to leave the country.
Several airlines have cancelled flights to Beirut, while United, Delta and British Airways are expected to announce they are suspending flights to Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iran has threatened that it will deliver a \u201charsh punishment\u201d against Israel following theassassination of Hamas\u2019s leader in an explosion. Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, was killed instantly inside his home in Tehran with some reports suggesting that a bomb had been placed inside the apartment months earlier and detonated by remote control.The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4608","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4608"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4610,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4608\/revisions\/4610"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}