Earlier, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said he had been targeted in his residence along with an Iranian bodyguard. It said he had been in Iran to attend the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian. Pezeshkian who was elected as the new president of Iran in the national elections last month. Lot of senior leaders of the West Asian nations were invited to attend his inauguration ceremony on July 30.

Haniyeh was the exiled political chief of the militant group and had spent much of his time in recent years in Qatar and Turkiye. Considered a pragmatist, he had acted as a negotiator in the ceasefire talks during the Israel-Gaza war, liaised with Hamas’s main ally, Iran, and met with the Turkish president. He was highly valued as a skilled negotiator and Hamas leadership made use of his skills in organizing assistance for the fighting Hamas against Israel since the war started on October 7 last year.

Haniyeh was elected head of the Hamas political bureau in 2017 to succeed Khaled Meshaal, but was already a well-known figure having become Palestinian prime minister in 2006 following an upset victory by Hamas in that year’s parliamentary election. He has a good relations with Turkiye government and he organized assistance from President Erdogan, both financial and others in favour of the Palestinian fighters.. So far, 39,400 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s’ war and the number of injured is put at 90,996 officially.

The killed Hamas leader was a part of the negotiating process on Gaza truce between Palestinians and the Israelis with the monitoring by the US president Joe Biden. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to Washington last week was told by both President Biden and the vice president Kamala Harris to ensure finalization of truce at the earliest. Netanyahu as usual blamed the Hamas leadership for the delay.

The latest developments have enraged the Hamas leadership and there is every possibility of escalation as both Lebanon and Turkiye are openly supporting Hamas.. The Lebanon based Hezbollah carried out killing last week end at Golan heights killing 12 persons including children and women and in retaliation, Israel carried out air attack on Beirut on Tuesday targeting the top Hezbollah commander responsible for attack on Golan Heights. Israel said that Lebanon would have to face serious consequences for the last week’s attack.

Apart from Lebanon based militant outfit Hezbollah, Turkiye President Erdogan said that Turkiye could enter Israel in support of the Palestinians. If his words are translated into action that will impart a new dimension to the present war as Turkiye is a member of NATO and NATO has some rules for its members. Already, Israel has protested to NATO that Turkiye is a conduit for channelizing financial funds to the militants. Now the physical involvement will further expand the areas of Palestine-Israel war. Next few days will be crucial in the Middle East. (IPA Service)