Tehran/Tel Aviv/Gaza (dpa) – After the targeted killing of a high-ranking leader of the Islamist Hamas, Iran and Hamas are threatening Israel with retaliation. According to Hamas, its foreign chief, Ismail Haniya, was killed in an Israeli attack in Tehran. The government in Jerusalem has not yet commented on the matter. “This pure blood will certainly not have been shed in vain,” said a statement from the military wing of Hamas on Telegram. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, announced “harsh punishment.”

Haniya was visiting the Iranian capital to attend the swearing-in of the new Iranian President Massoud Peseschkian. At the event in parliament on Tuesday, he sat in the front rows, as could be seen on state television. MPs surrounded him and took selfies with him, and like others, he formed a “V” for victory with his fingers. According to the Iranian news agency Tasnim, Haniya was fatally shot a few hours later, at 2:00 a.m. local time (0:30 a.m. CEST), in a residence in the north of the capital.

According to Hamas, he was killed by a targeted rocket attack. “A rocket hit the room where Ismail Haniya was staying and he was hit directly,” said senior Hamas official Chalil al-Haja in Beirut.

The statement from Hamas’ military wing went on to say that the attack on Haniya would have a major impact on the entire region. Israel would pay the price for the attack “in every place that the hands of our mujahideen reach.”

Iran’s religious leader Khamenei also announced retaliation. “The criminal Zionist regime (Israel) murdered our guest in our house,” Khamenei was quoted as saying on his website. “There will be severe punishment.” Khamenei said the whole country was mourning the loss of a brave and holy warrior. There were no public announcements yet about the results of a hastily convened emergency meeting of the Iranian National Security Council.

Accusations from Tehran also against the USA

Iran also blamed the USA for Haniya’s death. “The USA is also responsible for this brutal act of terror,” said a statement from the Iranian Foreign Ministry. Washington has always supported the Israeli government and has always supported its crimes. Therefore, the USA also played a role in this incident.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a visit to Singapore that the US had no involvement in Haniya’s violent death and had no knowledge of the killing. Blinken again stressed the need for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip to reduce tensions in the Middle East.

Mourning in the West Bank

Haniya has been head of Hamas’ political bureau, which is considered the highest decision-making body, since 2017. He is considered the “overall” head of Hamas, while Jihia al-Sinwar is the head of the Gaza Strip. Haniya is the highest-ranking Hamas leader to be killed since the start of the Gaza war around ten months ago.

He has lived in the Gulf emirate of Qatar since 2017. He joined Hamas as a young man in the late 1980s during the first Palestinian uprising, the Intifada, against the Israeli occupation. He served several prison sentences in Israeli prisons and survived an attempt by Israel to kill him with a rocket strike in 2003.

Despite the long conflict with Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) strongly condemned the killing of Haniya. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas spoke of a “cowardly act” and ordered the flags to be lowered to half-mast. The head of the Palestinian Authority spoke of a “dangerous development”.

Threats also from Iran-loyal militias in Iraq and Hezbollah

Threats also came from militias loyal to Iran in Iraq. The leader of the Nujaba militia in Iraq, Akram Kaabi, said that the USA and Israel had “opened the gates of hell for themselves”. The Nujaba militia is part of a network of militias loyal to Iran in Iraq that have significantly increased their attacks on bases used by the USA in the region since the beginning of the Gaza war. Nujaba is considered one of the most aggressive.

The Lebanese Hezbollah expects more resistance against Israel after the killing of Haniya. Haniya “was one of the great resistance fighters of our time who courageously resisted US domination and Zionist occupation,” the militia said. Hezbollah is allied with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, both of which are in turn allies of Iran. News of Haniya’s killing came just hours after an Israeli air strike on a suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut, in which, according to the Israeli army, Fuad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah commander, was killed.

In Iran, three days of national mourning were declared after the incident. A funeral march is also planned for Thursday in Tehran. After that, Haniya’s body will be taken to the Qatari capital Doha, Hamas announced. The funeral ceremony will begin with a prayer on Friday afternoon. Haniya’s body will then be buried in a cemetery in the city of Lusail, north of Doha. “Arab and Islamic leaders” are expected to attend.

Concern in Berlin, Moscow and Beijing

In view of a possible expansion of the war in the Middle East, the UN Security Council in New York wanted to meet for an emergency meeting on Wednesday evening (10 p.m. CEST). After Haniya’s death, the German government warned against a further escalation of the situation in the Middle East. “We call on all actors to exercise maximum restraint. The logic of mutual retaliation is a mistake,” a spokesman for the Foreign Office told journalists in Berlin. He called on people to keep a cool head and do everything possible to de-escalate the situation. “The chance of a hostage agreement and a ceasefire in Gaza must not be squandered now.” Haniya was an important contact person in the indirect negotiations for a ceasefire in the Gaza war.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov condemned the attack. “We believe that such actions are directed against attempts to create peace in the region. They can significantly destabilize the already tense situation,” he said, according to Russian news agencies. Moscow maintains close contacts with Tehran and Hamas.

Criticism also came from China. “We are extremely concerned about the incident, firmly reject the assassination and condemn it,” said a spokesman for the Beijing Foreign Ministry. China is deeply concerned that the deadly attack on Haniya could lead to further instability in the region.