Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh killed in Iran, Israel says military 'fully prepared for any scenario'

The Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed on Wednesday that Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran. Haniyeh, along with one of his guards, was reportedly killed at his residence in Tehran. Ismail Haniyeh led Hamas' political operations from exile in Qatar. 

The IRGC statement said that a probe is underway to find out the cause of the incident. "Early this morning, the residence of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran was struck, resulting in his and one of his body guards' martyrdom. The cause is under investigation and will be announced soon," the Revolutionary Guards said.

The statement also offered condolences to the Palestinian people, the Muslim world and the Resistance Front's fighters over Haniyeh's death. 

In a statement, the Islamist outfit said that Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an airstrike on his residence in Tehran and claimed that Haniyeh was killed in "treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran."

The Hamas chief on Tuesday attended the inauguration ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. He also met Iran's Supreme Leader Seyyed Ali Khamenei. Khamenei shared the pictures of his meeting with Haniyeh on X. 

In a reply to this post, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said that Khamenei met the leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad who have been attempting to kill Israelis.

The IDF said: "Did someone ask for a photo-op of Iran and the leaders of their proxies? Iran's Khamenei met with Hamas' Ismail Haniyeh and the Islamic Jihad's Ziyad-al-Nakhalah -- two of the terrorist organisations who have been attempting to kill Israelis using weapons made and funded by Iran. We can only assume the topics of conversation included how to spend more Iranian money to kill Israelis while wishing Hezbollah's Nasrallah could join them."

Meanwhile, Israel said that its military was "fully prepared for any scenario," The New York Times said."We prefer to resolve hostilities without a wider war," Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said.

In April this year, Haniyeh's three sons were killed in an air strike by the Israeli Air Forces. The three sons were identified as Amir Haniyeh, a cell commander in the Hamas military wind and Mohammad and Hazem Haniyeh. 

Mohammad and Hazem Haniyeh were also Hamas operatives, according to the IDF.