2024-07-31 12:31, akt.2024-07-31 14:24
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2024-07-31 12:31
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2024-07-31 14:24
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The killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh is a turning point that takes the war with Israel to a “new level” and will entail “grave consequences” for the entire Middle East, the al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, said on Wednesday.
Foot. AMMAR AWAD / / Reuters / Forum
Haniyeh was killed early Wednesday in Tehran in an airstrike that Hamas and Iran attribute to Israel. The man was a permanent resident of Qatar and had come to Iran for the inauguration of new president Masoud Peshekian.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is leading his country “towards the abyss” and the violation of Iran’s sovereignty through this attack should be “an alarm bell for all states and nations in the region,” Hamas’s armed wing said in a statement.
The communique also described the life of the slain leader, describing it as “full of jihad and sacrifice”. Hani’s “martyrdom” confirms that Hamas leaders “fight shoulder to shoulder with their people”, it added.
Hamas is an armed Islamist movement that has ruled the Gaza Strip alone since 2007. The organization’s political leadership resides permanently in Qatar, which is also the group’s largest financial and political sponsor. Hamas or its military wing is designated a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, and the European Union, among others.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas carried out a series of terrorist attacks on Israel, triggering the war in the Gaza Strip that continues to this day.
Defense Minister Galant: Israel Does Not Want War, But Is Ready for Any Scenario
Israel does not want war, but is ready for any development, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said Wednesday during an inspection of air defense units. The minister referred to the attack in Tehran and the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Galant’s statement and visit to defensive positions in northern Israel come at an extremely tense moment in the Middle East. Haniyeh was killed early Wednesday morning, and Iran and Hamas blame Israel for his death, which has not commented directly on the attack.
Haniyeh permanently resided in Qatar and came to Iran for the inauguration of the new president, Masoud Peshehkian.
On Tuesday evening, Israel carried out an attack on the southern suburbs of Beirut, considered a stronghold of Hezbollah, near the headquarters of the movement’s highest-ranking body, the Shura Council. The target of the attack was Hezbollah’s top military commander, Fuad Shukr. There is no consensus on whether Shukr survived the attack – Hezbollah said he was alive, and Israel said he had been eliminated.
The Israeli army said the attack was in retaliation for Saturday’s shelling of the Golan Heights in which 12 people were killed.
The foreign ministries of Egypt and Qatar, which along with the United States are brokering ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas, have said Haniyeh’s killing undermines those efforts. The Hamas political leader was involved in those talks.
“The political killings and continued attacks on civilians in Gaza during the ongoing talks lead us to ask how mediation can succeed when one side kills the other’s negotiator? Peace needs serious partners,” Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani wrote on social media.
The attack undermines “intensive efforts” by Egypt and other partners to stop the war in Gaza and shows “Israel’s lack of political will” to calm the situation, Egypt’s foreign ministry said.
From Jerusalem Jerzy Adamiak (PAP)
adj/ ap/
