HANIYEH KILLED BY ‘SHORT-RANGE PROJECTILE’ FIRED FROM OUTSIDE HOME: IRGC

It added that Israel will receive “a harsh punishment in due time and place” for Haniyeh’s assassination, which, it said, was “supported by the criminal government” of the United States.

Israel has neither confirmed nor denied a role, while the US has said it “was not aware of or involved in” Haniyeh’s killing that threatens to plunge the Middle East into further conflict amid Israel’s relentless war on the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian leader and his bodyguard were killed in an Iranian government guest house in Tehran in the early hours of Wednesday.

Haniyeh had gone to the Iranian capital to attend the inauguration of Iran’s newly elected Masoud Pezeshkian.

On Friday, thousands of people attended Haniyeh’s funeral prayer at a mosque in Qatar’s capital, Doha, where the Hamas chief had lived along with members of the group’s political office.

His assassination came hours after top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr was killed in an Israeli air attack on the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut. According to Lebanon’s health ministry, five civilians – three women and two children – also died in the attack. 

Iran said on Saturday it expects Hezbollah to hit deeper inside Israel and no longer be confined to military targets after Israel killed the Hezbollah military commander.

Israel’s war on Gaza has resulted in nearly 40,000 deaths and displaced almost the entire population of 2.3 million, leading to what UN experts are calling a famine in the enclave. The war started in response to a Hamas-led attack on Israeli communities and military outposts on October 7, in which 1,139 people were killed and about 250 were taken captive.

Over the last few months, Hamas and Israel have been locked in ceasefire talks aimed at ending the killing in Gaza and releasing Israeli captives in exchange for thousands of Palestinian prisoners.