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Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas Leader on Israel’s Hit List Since Oct. 7, Is Killed in Airstrike in Tehran

In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, President Masoud Pezeshkian, right, shakes hands with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh at the start of their meeting at the President's office in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)
In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, President Masoud Pezeshkian, right, shakes hands with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh at the start of their meeting at the President's office in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)
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Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas Leader on Israel’s Hit List Since Oct. 7, Is Killed in Airstrike in Tehran

In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, President Masoud Pezeshkian, right, shakes hands with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh at the start of their meeting at the President's office in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)
In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, President Masoud Pezeshkian, right, shakes hands with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh at the start of their meeting at the President's office in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)

Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ supreme leader in exile who landed on Israel’s hit list after the armed group staged its surprise Oct. 7 attacks, was killed in an airstrike in the Iranian capital early Wednesday. He was 62. 

Hamas said Haniyeh was killed at his residence in Tehran in an Israeli airstrike after he attended the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s new president. Israel has not commented on the accusation. 

Haniyeh's death makes him the latest Hamas official to be killed by Israel since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks, when militants killed 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages. The devastating Israel-Hamas war the attacks set off has become the deadliest and longest in the Arab-Israeli conflict. More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to health officials in Gaza. 

While Hamas’ Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar is believed to have been the mastermind of the attacks, Haniyeh, seen as a more moderate force in Hamas, lauded them as a humiliating blow to Israel's aura of invincibility. 

“The Al-Aqsa flood was an earthquake that struck the heart of the Zionist entity and has made major changes at the world level,” Haniyeh said in a speech in Iran during the funeral of late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in May. 

“We will continue the resistance against this enemy until we liberate our land, all our land,” Haniyeh said. 

Hours after the Oct. 7 attacks, Haniyeh appeared in a video released by Hamas leading prayers with other top Hamas officials. They thanked God for the success of the attack, which blasted through Israel's vaunted defenses and resulted in the deadliest assault in Israel’s history. 

Michael Milshtein, a Hamas expert at Tel Aviv University, said Haniyeh had a commanding role in the group's foreign policy and diplomacy, but was less involved in military affairs. 

“He was responsible for propaganda, for diplomatic relations, but he was not very powerful,” said Milshtein, a former military intelligence officer. “From time to time, Sinwar even laughed and joked: ‘He’s the more moderate, sophisticated leader, but he doesn’t understand anything about warfare.’” 

Still, Israel pledged to target all of Hamas’ leaders following the attacks and has gradually worked to fulfill that promise. 

Haniyeh was also under the eye of the International Criminal Court, whose chief prosecutor sought arrest warrants against him and two other Hamas leaders, Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Similar requests were issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. 

Haniyeh lived in self-imposed exile in Qatar since 2019 and the threats against him did not prevent him from traveling. He visited Türkiye and Iran throughout the war. From Doha, he was involved in negotiations meant to bring about a ceasefire and free the hostages. 

His role in Hamas’ leadership also cost him his closest relatives. In April, an Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed three of Haniyeh’s sons, after which he accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” 

Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed as well as his sister in a separate strike last month. 

Haniyeh, who was born in Gaza’s urban Shati refugee camp on Jan. 29, 1963, joined Hamas when it was founded in 1987. He served as an aid to Ahmad Yassin, the group’s founder, and rose throughout the years until he became its top political leader, replacing Khaled Meshaal in 2017. 

Haniyeh was deeply religious and studied Arabic literature at university. He was known for delivering lengthy speeches using flowery language to his supporters while serving as prime minister in Gaza. 

Hani Masri, a veteran Palestinian analyst who met Haniyeh several times, said the late leader’s personality was a natural fit for the head of the group’s political bureau in Doha. He described him as having been sociable and well spoken. 

Haniyeh, like thousands of other Palestinians, was detained by Israeli authorities in 1989 for being a member of Hamas and spent three years in jail before he was deported to Lebanon in 1992 with a group of top Hamas officials and founders. He later returned to the Gaza Strip following the 1993 interim peace accords, which were signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. 

Haniyeh assumed the position of prime minister in the Palestinian government after Hamas won legislative elections in 2006. He presided over the gravest crisis in the Palestinian leadership in its history, which continues until today. 

Hamas violently overran Gaza in 2007, routing forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction and installing itself as ruler of the tiny coastal enclave, with Haniyeh as prime minister. 

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Arab World

Israeli Army Reportedly Ignored Oct. 6 Intel Warning of Hamas Attack

(FILES) This aerial view shows displaced Palestinians returning to the war-devastated Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on January 19, 2025, shortly before a ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas was implemented. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
(FILES) This aerial view shows displaced Palestinians returning to the war-devastated Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on January 19, 2025, shortly before a ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas was implemented. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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Israeli Army Reportedly Ignored Oct. 6 Intel Warning of Hamas Attack

(FILES) This aerial view shows displaced Palestinians returning to the war-devastated Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on January 19, 2025, shortly before a ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas was implemented. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
(FILES) This aerial view shows displaced Palestinians returning to the war-devastated Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on January 19, 2025, shortly before a ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas was implemented. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

On October 6, 2023 - less than 24 hours before the Hamas attack that triggered the Gaza war - Israel gathered intelligence indicating the Palestinian group was planning something for the following morning, Israeli Kan public broadcaster has revealed.

The information came through an intelligence-gathering operation, conducted via drones over the Gaza Strip, focused on the Hamas guards operating in the tunnel where Israel believed hostage Avera Mengistu was being held, the report said, according to an article published in The Times of Israel on Saturday.

Mengistu, a member of Israel’s Ethiopian minority and reportedly suffering from mental illness, entered Gaza by crossing a barbed wire fence in 2014, and was then arrested and held by Hamas. He was freed as part of a ceasefire deal in February this year.

The Times of Israel quoted Kan as saying that some piece of information obtained during that drone operation, though unclear, set off a red flag, and it was passed along to the Israeli army’s Southern Command.

The broadcaster, citing “sources,” claimed that the Command dismissed the intelligence as, in all likelihood, indicative of a Hamas training exercise, rather than an imminent attack.

The October 6 operation does not appear in the Israeli army’s records, nor has it been mentioned by probes into the events leading up to and during the subsequent terror onslaught, Kan said, adding that the reason for its omission is not clear.

Kan first reported on the intelligence operation earlier this month, but initially cited a source privy to the matter who said it had brought neither an intelligence breakthrough on Mengistu nor any indication of the imminent Hamas attack, The Times of Israel said.

It added that the Kan report comes about two weeks after Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir appointed a panel of experts to investigate the military’s failed handling of intelligence reports received since 2018, which outlined Hamas’s intent to launch a wide-scale attack against Israel, a topic not included in the army’s initial probes into the October 7, 2023, onslaught.

Arab World

Tetteh Accuses Libyan Stakeholders of Stalling Political Progress

Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya Hanna Tetteh (Getty)
Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya Hanna Tetteh (Getty)
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Tetteh Accuses Libyan Stakeholders of Stalling Political Progress

Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya Hanna Tetteh (Getty)
Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya Hanna Tetteh (Getty)

Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya Hanna Tetteh has accused Libya’s stakeholders of stalling political progress on the UN-backed roadmap intended to lead the country toward national election.

“Four months have elapsed since I first presented the Roadmap to this Council on 21 August and UNSMIL has been engaging Libyan stakeholders with regard to its implementation, which I admit has been quite challenging,” Tetteh told the Security Council in New York on Friday.

She said efforts to advance electoral preparations had failed to meet agreed timelines, despite repeated engagement with Libya’s rival political bodies.

She recalled that committees from the House of Representatives and the High Council of State had agreed in October to reconstitute the High National Elections Commission within two weeks, but “despite multiple efforts and engagements with these institutions, this did not happen.”

Tetteh said a subsequent agreement signed last November, under UN auspices, established a mechanism to select new HNEC board members, with a deadline of December 11 to finalize the process. That deadline also passed without action.

“It is my assessment that the delays are a manifestation of the lack of trust between the two institutions, their own internal divisions, and the inability to overcome their differences and agree on the way forward to resolve the current impasse,” Tetteh said.

She listed the obstacles facing the amendment of the constitutional and legal framework for elections.

Despite the setbacks, Tetteh highlighted the launch of a new UN-facilitated dialogue process held in Libya earlier this month, describing it as a key component of the roadmap.

On December 14 and 15 “UNSMIL launched the inaugural meeting of the Structured Dialogue which is one of the three core components of the Roadmap,” she said. “This is the first process of this magnitude to be held on Libyan soil.”

She said 124 participants included representatives from sovereign institutions, civil society, political parties, academia and cultural and linguistic groups, alongside other state institutions.

The dialogue aimed to define guiding principles for state-building, formulate political and legislative recommendations covering governance, economy, security, and national reconciliation.

On the economy, Tetteh said Libya's persistent financial fragmentation continues to undermine its dinar.

The UN envoy also said that the security environment in Tripoli has stabilized to a certain extent, however the situation remains fragile with sporadic outbreaks of armed clashes in southern Tripoli and elsewhere.

Tetteh commented on UN Security Council Resolution 2796 (2025) of October 31, which extended UNSMIL’s mandate for one year.

She said UNISMIL formed an internal task force to gradually implement key decisions and recommendations, due to limited resources.

Arab World

Sanaa's GPC Wing Deepens Submission to Houthis

A view of previous meetings of the General People’s Congress wing in Sanaa (local media)
A view of previous meetings of the General People’s Congress wing in Sanaa (local media)
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Sanaa's GPC Wing Deepens Submission to Houthis

A view of previous meetings of the General People’s Congress wing in Sanaa (local media)
A view of previous meetings of the General People’s Congress wing in Sanaa (local media)

A wing of Yemen’s General People’s Congress (GPC) operating in areas under Houthi control has moved to consolidate its alignment with the Iran-backed group, dismissing the party’s secretary general, Ghazi Ali al-Ahwal, and replacing Ahmed Ali Saleh, son of the late Yemeni president, with a figure closely associated with the Houthis in the post of deputy party leader.

The party’s General Committee, its political bureau, held a meeting in Sanaa on Thursday, chaired by Sadiq Amin Abu Ras, head of the party wing in Houthi-controlled areas.

The meeting ended with the selection of Abdulaziz bin Habtoor, the former head of the unrecognized Houthi government, as deputy party leader.

The move was widely seen as a direct response to public Houthi demands to remove the former president’s son, coupled with repeated threats to shut down the party and ban its activities.

The decision to sideline Ahmed Ali Saleh came after weeks of mounting pressure by the Houthis on the wing’s leadership.

Measures included tight security restrictions on Abu Ras’s movements and threats to dissolve the party and seize what remained of its political and organizational activity, citing the group’s full control over party headquarters and finances in Sanaa and other areas under its influence.

According to party sources, the Houthis did not stop at imposing the removal, but also demanded the appointment of a loyal figure as deputy leader in an effort to tighten their grip on what remains of the party’s decision-making structures and to prevent any potential communication with party leaders abroad or with rival political forces.

The most controversial decision was the final expulsion of al-Ahwal from party membership, around four months after his arrest by the Houthis on charges of communicating with party leaders outside the country, foremost among them Ahmed Ali Saleh.

At an earlier meeting, the wing had approved the appointment of Yahya al-Raai as secretary general to replace al-Ahwal, in addition to his role as deputy party leader alongside Abu Ras.

The party’s Organizational Oversight Authority submitted a report to the General Committee accusing al-Ahwal of harming party unity and national unity, violating internal regulations, the constitution and national principles.

The leadership used the report to justify the expulsion decision, which it said was taken unanimously, despite criticism that the secretary general remains detained under unlawful conditions without even minimal guarantees of defense or trial.

Houthi grip

Political sources in Sanaa said the appointment of bin Habtoor as deputy party leader was an attempt by the wing’s leadership to ease pressure and avoid a scenario in which the Houthis imposed a more hardline and openly loyal figure, such as Hussein Hazeb, whom the group had been pushing to appoint as first deputy leader or secretary general.

However, the same sources said the move did not prevent the Houthis from pressing ahead with their demand to permanently expel al-Ahwal, underscoring how limited the leadership’s room for maneuver has become and how key decisions are effectively made outside the party’s organizational framework.

In an apparent attempt to justify the moves, the General Committee said the General People’s Congress “has always been and will remain keen to resolve disputes within the framework of national unity,” speaking of visions related to decentralized governance and reducing centralization.

By contrast, senior party figure Jamal al-Humairi, who is based abroad, said the recent decisions were “an extension of a clear trajectory of Houthi pressure,” stressing that they were issued in a “kidnapped political and security reality” where intimidation and blackmail are used to subjugate a long-established party and strip it of its historic leadership.

He said organizational legitimacy “is derived from the grassroots, not from decisions imposed by force,” adding that the decisions “do not represent the party or its base.”

Internal anger

Inside Sanaa, party sources said there was widespread anger and rejection among party cadres over the decision to expel al-Ahwal, as well as criticism of the General Committee meeting for failing to address his detention or demand his release. They also cited frustration over the failure to address the siege imposed on the home of the wing’s leader and other senior figures.

Observers say the treatment of the Sanaa-based wing reflects a broader picture of political life being stifled in Houthi-controlled areas, where a single ideological vision is imposed on parties and only a narrow margin of activity is allowed for organizations that orbit the group.

Since the killing of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh at the end of 2017, the General People’s Congress has been deeply divided. Most of its historic leadership left Houthi-controlled areas without agreeing on a unified leadership abroad, while the Sanaa wing opted to adapt to the reality of Houthi dominance.

Meanwhile, Tareq Saleh formed a political bureau for the National Resistance Forces on the Red Sea coast, which has attracted party figures and members of parliament.

Analysts agree that the latest decisions mark a new stage in the dismantling of the party in Sanaa, turning it into a body stripped of independent will and operating under Houthi conditions, further entrenching the erosion of political pluralism in Yemen.