Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has been assassinated.
Local reports said the Palestinian militant group chief was killed in a missile attack by yet to be identified assailants in the early hours of Wednesday morning in Iran.
No group has claimed responsibility over the terrorist leader’s killing so far.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) confirmed the death of Haniyeh, saying it occurred hours after he attended a swearing in ceremony for the country’s new president.
One of his bodyguards was also killed, the IRGC said.
The Iranian government however said it was investigating the death of the terrorist leader.
Israel had vowed to kill Haniyeh and other leaders of Hamas after the Gaza-based terror group’s devastating October 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.
Hamas had during the attack whisked away some of the victims away to the now war ravaged Gaza Strip, where they are still being held captive.
Haniyeh, normally based in Qatar, has been the face of the Palestinian terror group’s international diplomacy.
Three of his sons were recently killed in an Israeli airstrike.
Haniyeh is the most senior Hamas official killed after the recent killing by Israel of Hezbollah leader in Lebanon since the war started.
His death comes in the heat of a region already shaken by Israel’s war in Gaza and a worsening conflict in Lebanon.
The incident is already drawing fears of wider escalation in the protracted Israel-Palestine conflict.
