Israeli defense minister confirms involvement in the assassination of Hamas chief Haniyeh

Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz confirmed for the first time the state's involvement in the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the radical Palestinian radical Hamas movement, in Tehran. This was reported by The Times of Israel (TToI) on December 23.

He predicted to the Houthis in Yemen the fate of the leaders of Hamas and Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement in response to their attacks on Israel.

"We will hit the strategic infrastructure (of the Houthis. - Ed.) and behead their leaders. Just as we did to Haniyeh, Hamas politburo head Yahya Sinwar and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Tehran, Gaza and Lebanon - we will do it in Hodeidah and Sana'a," Katz said.

Prior to that, on Nov. 10, Katz said the Shiite Hezbollah movement had been defeated and called the elimination of the movement's leader Hassan Nasrallah a major achievement. He said the only thing left for the state to do is to keep up the pressure on the Shiite organization to reap the fruits of defeating it.

The IDF announced the elimination of Sinwar in the southern Gaza Strip on October 17. Yahya Sinwar became head of the Hamas politburo in early August following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

The situation in the Middle East escalated on the morning of October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian radical movement Hamas launched a massive rocket attack from the Gaza Strip into Israel. On the same day, Israel began retaliatory strikes.