Iranian media report that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was eliminated in Tehran. Hamas confirms the report.

July 31, 2024 — Israel National News reports: “The Hamas terrorist organization announced on Wednesday morning that the organization’s leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was eliminated in the Iranian capital of Tehran.

Earlier, media outlets in Iran, citing the Revolutionary Guards, reported that Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were killed in an attack on the home in which they were staying in Tehran.

Saudi media reported that Haniyeh was killed in his bedroom by a precision-guided missile that was launched towards him at 2:00 a.m. Tehran time.

Haniyeh was visiting Tehran in order to take part in the swearing-in ceremony of the new Iranian President, Masoud Pezeshkian, which took place on Tuesday.

In a statement, Hamas blamed Israel for the elimination, saying, ‘The Islamic resistance movement Hamas mourns its leader Ismail Haniyeh, who died as a result of a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran, after participating in the swearing-in ceremony of the new Iranian president.’

Hamas political bureau member Mousa Abu Marzouq commented on the elimination of Haniyeh, and said that ‘the assassination of Commander Ismail Haniyeh is a cowardly act and will not go unanswered.’

During the visit to Tehran, Haniyeh met with Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, among others…”  (Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise;  For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.  They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause.  For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.  And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.  Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.  When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.  Let his days be few; and let another take his office.  Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.  Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.  Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour.  Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.  Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.  Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.  Let them be before the Lord continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.  Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.  As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.  As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones.  Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually.  Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord, and of them that speak evil against my soul.  But do thou for me, O God the Lord, for thy name’s sake: because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me.  For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.  I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust.  My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness.  I became also a reproach unto them: when they looked upon me they shaked their heads.  Help me, O Lord my God: O save me according to thy mercy:  That they may know that this is thy hand; that thou, Lord, hast done it.  Let them curse, but bless thou: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let thy servant rejoice.  Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.  I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude.  For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul.  Psalm 109: 1-31.  See the next report.)

Killing of Haniyeh restores Israel’s threat of deterrence to Iran, Iranian-Israeli journalist says

July 31, 2024 — The Jerusalem Post reports: “Israel is restoring its deterrence in the eyes of the Iranians, Iranian-Israeli journalist Babak Itzhaki of Iran International told 103FM Wednesday morning following the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

Itzhaki explained the significance of the killing of Haniyeh while he was in Tehran, describing it as a huge embarrassment for the Iranians. 

‘It seems to them like Israel is restoring its lost deterrence in the eyes of the Iranians,’ he explained. He elaborated that if Israel did this, it means they had managed to essentially send a missile into Haniyeh’s bedroom. 

‘And where? Inside Tehran, where it is supposed to be safest. In the capital of the biggest supporter of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.’

He continued, ‘The last we saw of [Haniyeh] was last night. They took him and all the leaders of the Axis of Resistance to a presentation in the heart of Tehran. And what was there? A model of al-Aqsa Mosque and the Temple Mount. And you could see him hugging the new president of Iran.’…”

Report: Hamas considering avenging Haniyeh by killing Israelis abroad

August 23, 2024 — Israel National News reports: “The Hamas terrorist organization is considering carrying out assassinations of Israelis abroad to take revenge for the assassination of its leader Ismail Haniyeh last month, Channel 12 News reported.

The report, which cites Arab sources, comes as Israel continues to wait for the attack Iran has been threatening to launch since Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran.

The Hamas terrorist organization, like Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, is an Iranian proxy that accepts funding, weapons, and orders from Tehran. Its ability to retaliate against Israel directly for the assassination of Haniyeh is limited given the losses it has suffered since the war in Gaza began…”  (Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.  He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.  Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.  Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.  I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.  Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.  Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.  Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.  Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.  Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. – Psalm 2:1-12.)