Defense minister confirms Israel was behind killing of Hamas leader Haniyeh in Tehran

Israel Katz, speaking at event honoring security officers, says Iranian-backed Houthi group in Yemen will be decapitated, ‘just as [Israel] did to Haniyeh, Sinwar, and Nasrallah’

Iranians follow a truck carrying the coffins of Hamas terror group leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard, who were killed in an assassination, during their funeral ceremony in Tehran, Iran, August 1, 2024. (AP Photo/ Vahid Salemi)
Iranians follow a truck carrying the coffins of Hamas terror group leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard, who were killed in an assassination, during their funeral ceremony in Tehran, Iran, August 1, 2024. (AP Photo/ Vahid Salemi)

Defense Minister Israel Katz on Monday confirmed for the first time that Israel was behind the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran over the summer.

Haniyeh was killed on July 31, in a blast in the Iranian capital, hours after he attended the inauguration of new Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian.

Though initial reports said Haniyeh was killed by a missile, an August report in The New York Times said a sophisticated, remote-controlled bomb was smuggled into the Tehran guesthouse he was staying in months before the assassination, and finally detonated when the Hamas leader was present.

The assassination marked a major embarrassment for Iran, which backs Hamas as well as Hezbollah, whose top commander Israel had also just killed in Lebanon.

Haniyeh was replaced as Hamas political leader by Yahya Sinwar, until then the group’s military chief, whom Israeli troops killed in southern Gaza’s Rafah in October, a year into the war there, which began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

Katz’s confirmation that Israel was behind Haniyeh’s killing came offhand, amid threats he issued against the Iranian-backed Houthi group in Yemen, which he delivered at a commemoration event for local security officers.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree speaks during a rally against the US and Israel in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

The Yemeni terror group has launched several missiles at Israel in recent days leading to retaliatory airstrikes by both Israel and the US.

“In these days, when the Houthi terror organization is firing missiles at Israel, I want to convey a clear message to them: We have defeated Hamas, we have defeated Hezbollah, we have blinded the defense systems in Iran, and damaged the [missile] production systems,” Katz said at a commemoration event for local security officers.

“We have overthrown the Assad regime in Syria, we have dealt heavy blows to the ‘axis of evil,’ and we will also severely strike the Houthi terror organization in Yemen, which remains the last one standing,” he continued.

Though Israel was not directly involved in overthrowing the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, it assesses that its strikes on Iran’s proxies in the region contributed to the fall of the regime.

“We will strike [the Houthis’] strategic infrastructure and decapitate its leaders. Just as we did to Haniyeh, Sinwar, and Nasrallah, in Tehran, Gaza and Lebanon — we will do in Hodeidah and Sanaa,” Katz said, referring to the slain leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah.

Defense Minister Israel Katz speaks at a commemoration event for local security officers, December 23, 2024. (Yossi Funes/Defense Ministry)

“Whoever raises a hand against Israel will have their hand cut off, and the long arm of the IDF will strike them and settle the score,” he added.

Katz has been known to periodically make off-the-cuff remarks on sensitive security measures without necessarily receiving approval beforehand. His comments earlier this month claiming a hostage deal was looming reportedly led to pushback from senior members of the security establishment involved in the negotiations who said the remarks hampered their efforts.

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