Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh Killed by Explosive Device Concealed Months Before: Reports

New Delhi: An explosive device was reportedly used in the assassination of Hamas' political chief, Ismail Haniyeh. The device, allegedly planted covertly in the guest house where Haniyeh was staying about two months ago, was remotely detonated once he was in his room, according to CNN. Haniyeh was killed in the Iranian capital on Wednesday while in Tehran to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian. The assassination of Hamas' top political leader was potentially explosive amid the region's volatile, intertwined conflicts — because of its target, its timing and the decision to carry it out in Tehran. Most dangerous was the potential to push Iran and Israel into direct confrontation if Iran retaliated. 

'War With Israel Entered New Phase'

Meanwhile, Hezbollah’s leader warned that the conflict with Israel has entered a ‘new phase’,  as he addressed mourners at the funeral of a commander from the group who was killed by an Israeli airstrike this week in Beirut. The back-to-back killings have increased fears of an escalation into a wider war, leaving the region waiting to see how Iran and ally Hezbollah will respond. Iran has vowed retaliation against Israel for the strike that killed Ismail Haniyeh. So far, Israel has not denied or confirmed responsibility for the killing.

In a speech via video link to mourners at an auditorium in a Beirut suburb, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said, “We … have entered a new phase that is different from the previous period. Do they expect that Hajj Ismail Haniyeh will be killed in Iran and Iran will remain silent?” he said of the Israelis. Addressing Israelis who celebrated the two killings, he said, “Laugh a bit and you will cry a lot.”

But as he often does, Nasrallah kept his comments vague, vowing a “very-well-studied retaliation” without saying what form it would take. He said only that Israel “will have to wait for the anger of the region’s honourable people.”

“The enemy and the one who is behind the enemy” — an apparent reference to Israel's chief ally, the United States — “will have to wait for our coming response,” he said.  

Yan Borysovych Koum —Billionaire Who Co-founded WhatsApp Linked to Haniyeh Killing

Earlier in the day, speculations intensified following claims on X (formerly Twitter) that Yan Borysovych Koum, the co-founder of WhatsApp, could be linked to Haniyeh's assassination. 

According to a user on X (formerly Twitter), Israeli operatives allegedly installed spyware on Haniyeh’s phone through a WhatsApp message. This allowed them to obtain his exact location, which subsequently led to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) using a drone to launch a missile strike.

'Make Right Choices In The Days Ahead'

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said “all parties” in the Middle East must avoid escalatory actions that could plunge the region into further conflict.

Speaking in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar on Thursday, Blinken appealed for countries to “make the right choices in the days ahead” and said a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza was the only way to begin to break the current cycle of violence and suffering. Blinken did not mention Israel, Iran or Hamas by name in his comments.

Regional Tensions Flare

Bitter regional rivals, Israel and Iran risked plunging into war earlier this year when Israel hit Iran's embassy in Damascus in April. Iran retaliated, and Israel countered in an unprecedented exchange of strikes on each other's soil, but international efforts succeeded in containing that cycle before it spun out of control.

During Pezeshkian's inauguration ceremony, in his speech, he spoke in support of Palestinians, saying “Iran demands a world where no Palestinian child's dreams are buried under the rubble of their home.” “We are seeking a world where the proud people of Palestine are freed from occupation, oppression and imprisonment and genocide,” Pezeshkian said.   

Israel had pledged to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders over the group's Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. The strike came just hours after Israel targeted a top commander in Iran's ally Hezbollah in the Lebanese capital Beirut. Iran supports Hamas, as well as Hezbollah and other Palestinian militant groups fighting Israel in Gaza.