Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz has for the first time admitted that the country had assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran's capital Tehran.
Addressing a Defence Ministry event, Katz also issued a warning to Houthi forces in Yemen after they launched another drone attack earlier on Monday, which the Israeli military said was intercepted by its air defence systems.
"We will pound the Houthis hard, hit at their strategic infrastructure, and cut off their heads — like we did to Haniyeh, Sinwar, and Nasrallah in Tehran, Gaza, and Lebanon," Katz said.
Haniyeh was assassinated on July 31 in Tehran during an operation. Both Hamas and Iran alleged Israel conducted the assassination, Xinhua news agency reported.
Haniyeh and his bodyguard were killed when his residence was attacked in Tehran, according to a statement published on the IRGC's official news outlet, Sepah News. The statement indicated that the attack was under investigation and the results would be announced later.
On July 31, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency released a report saying that Haniyeh was assassinated around 2:00 a.m. local time on July 31 when a 'projectile' hit his residence in Tehran. The Islamic Hamas movement confirmed the death of its leader, saying that Haniyeh was assassinated in an Israeli attack in Iran.
In a press statement, Hamas said it "mourns to the Palestinian people, the Arab and Islamic nation, and the free people of the world" after the death of Haniyeh, who had been in Tehran to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on July 30. Haniyeh was also supposed to discuss with the Iranian president the political and field developments related to the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military has in the past claimed to have murdered Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in southern Gaza and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburb of Dahieh.
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