From the Liveblog of
Friday, August 2, 2024
Hamas official refutes claims Haniyeh was killed by bomb planted in his Tehran room – report
A Hamas official in Iran refutes reports that the explosion that killed the Palestinian terror group leader Ismail Haniyeh this week was set off by a bomb in his room at a Tehran guesthouse, according to an Arab media report.
A report in the London-based news outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed quotes Khaled Qaddoumi as saying it was “clear from the appearance of the place after the attack and what happened to it, and from the body of the martyr leader Ismail Haniyeh, that the targeting was carried out by an airborne projectile, whether it was a missile or a shell.”
He charges that a New York Times report that said Haniyeh was killed by a sophisticated device smuggled into Tehran about two months ago, as well as an IDF statement denying an airstrike on the night of the killing, were attempts to “lift direct responsibility” from Israel
Qaddoumi, who the US has described as a liaison between Hamas and the Iranian government, recalls the moments of the strike.
“At exactly 1:37 a.m., the building was shocked, so I left the place I was in and saw thick smoke. After that, we knew that [Haniyeh] had been martyred,” he is quoted as saying, adding that “there was a flash.”
“The intensity of the shock that hit the building made me think there had been thunder or an earthquake. I opened the window and found no rain or thunder, as the weather was hot. We went to the fourth floor where the martyr was and found that the wall and ceiling of the place he was in had fallen and been destroyed,” Qaddoumi says.
He also echoes a claim carried by Iranian media that the assassination of Haniyeh was carried out by Israel and approved by the United States. Israel has not commented on Haniyeh’s death, though Iran and its proxies in the region, including Hamas, have vowed revenge.
According to three Iranian officials cited in The New York Times report, the assassination was a “tremendous embarrassment” for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which runs the guesthouse where Haniyeh and other dignitaries were staying.
