Israel’s Defense Minister Acknowledges Killing of Hamas Leader Haniyeh in Tehran

Israel’s defense minister has for the first time confirmed that Israel was responsible for the killing of Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran during July. These remarks were made by Israel Katz during an address where he pledged to target the leadership of the Iran-backed Houthi movement in Yemen, a group that has been launching missiles and drones towards Israel. Mr. Haniyeh’s death occurred in a building in the Iranian capital where he was residing, in an incident broadly linked to Israel. In a separate development, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that some advancement had occurred in discussions to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza with Hamas, though he was unable to provide a timeframe for when a deal might be finalized. This statement followed a report from a senior Palestinian official to the BBC, indicating that negotiations between Hamas and Israel were 90% complete, despite outstanding key issues. During his speech, Mr. Katz declared that Israel intended to “strike hard” at the Houthis and “decapitate” its leadership. He stated, “Just as we did with Haniyeh, [Yahya] Sinwar, and [Hassan] Nasrallah in Tehran, Gaza, and Lebanon, we will do so in Hodeida and Sanaa,” referencing Hezbollah and Hamas leaders who have all died this year. Mr. Haniyeh, aged 62, was broadly recognized as Hamas’s supreme leader and was instrumental in negotiations focused on achieving a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Following his assassination, Hamas appointed Yahya Sinwar, who was its leader in Gaza and a principal planner of the 7 October attacks, as the organization’s overall leader. Mr. Sinwar was killed by the Israeli military during an unexpected confrontation in Gaza in October, and the group is currently in the process of selecting a new leader. Meanwhile, Hassan Nasrallah, who led the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, was assassinated in Beirut in September. This occurred as Israel significantly intensified its military operations against Hezbollah, with whom it had been exchanging almost daily cross-border fire since the day following the 7 October attacks. The Houthis, an Iran-backed rebel faction that governs north-western Yemen, initiated attacks on Israeli and international vessels in the Red Sea soon after Israel commenced its operations against Hamas in Gaza last October. The group has pledged to persist with these actions until the conflict in Gaza concludes. On Saturday, the Israeli military reported that its efforts to intercept a projectile launched from Yemen were unsuccessful, and the missile impacted a park in Tel Aviv. A Houthi spokesperson claimed the group had struck a military target with a hypersonic ballistic missile. Last week, Israel conducted strikes against what it identified as Houthi military targets, hitting port facilities and energy infrastructure in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa. The United States and the United Kingdom have also engaged Houthi targets as part of an initiative to safeguard international shipping. Hamas launched an attack on Israel in October of last year, resulting in the deaths of approximately 1,200 individuals and the abduction of 251 hostages. In response, Israel initiated a military campaign in Gaza aimed at dismantling Hamas, which has now lasted over a year and has resulted in 45,317 fatalities, as reported by the Hamas-run health ministry in the Strip. Hamas officials stated that this total includes 58 individuals killed by Israeli attacks within the last 24 hours. Local medical authorities reported that a minimum of 11 people died in three distinct strikes on the al-Mawasi area, an area previously designated a “safe zone” by the Israeli military. Israel asserted that it was targeting a Hamas fighter. On Monday, Israel announced that three of its soldiers had been killed in the northern Gaza Strip. Humanitarian and human rights organizations have issued warnings about a dire situation for civilians in Gaza. On Sunday, Oxfam reported that only 12 trucks had delivered food and water to northern Gaza over the previous two-and-a-half months, attributing this to the Israeli military’s “deliberate delays and systematic obstructions.” Oxfam further stated, “For three of these, once the food and water had been delivered to the school where people were sheltering, it was then cleared and shelled within hours.” The Israeli authorities countered that the report “deliberately and inaccurately” disregarded the “extensive humanitarian efforts made by Israel in the northern Gaza Strip.” Israel maintained that particular shipments, “including food, water, and medical supplies,” had been dispatched to northern regions of Gaza, such as Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia, and Jabalia, where the Israeli military has been conducting an operation for several months, stating its objective is to target Hamas fighters who had reassembled there. The Oxfam report follows accusations from human rights organizations: Amnesty International accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, and Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Israel of committing “acts of genocide” through the deliberate denial of adequate water access to Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Israel’s foreign ministry characterized the Amnesty report as “entirely false and based on lies,” while the spokesperson for the Israeli foreign ministry stated that Human Rights Watch was “once more spreading its blood libels… The truth is the complete opposite of HRW’s lies.”