Three individuals who were in the heavily guarded building in Tehran where Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated have told Middle East Eye that the Hamas political chief was killed by a projectile fired at his room and not a planted bomb.
The individuals, one of whom was staying in a room near Haniyeh’s, said on Friday that they heard sounds before an explosion shook the building, sounds they said appeared to be consistent with those made by a missile.
“This was definitely a projectile and not a planted bomb,” one of the individuals told, adding that they saw the aftermath of the explosion which appeared to be consistent with an attack by a missile.
The other two individuals, who were staying on separate floors, also witnessed the aftermath of the strike, which resulted in the partial collapse of the ceiling and exterior wall of Haniyeh’s room.
Haniyeh, a veteran Hamas official who had played a key role in talks for a potential ceasefire in Gaza, was killed alongside his long-serving bodyguard Wasim Abu Shaaban on Wednesday, hours after they attended a swearing-in ceremony for Iran’s new President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Haniyeh’s killing was the second high-profile Israeli assassination within hours, following a strike in Beirut that killed senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr, heightening fears that the region was sliding towards a full-blown war.
A source close to officials in the Iranian presidency told that the building where Haniyeh and several other invited Palestinian guests were staying was situated near Tehran’s Saadabad palace and guarded by the Republican Guards (IRGC).
According to analysis of the area, the building is situated on a hillside on the northern edge of Tehran, at the foot of the Alborz mountains, and there are no other residential buildings in the immediate vicinity of the compound.
Shortly after the killing, senior Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya told reporters, citing eyewitnesses, that the attack was carried out by a missile which “directly struck” Haniyeh.
In his press conference in Tehran, Hayya added that whilst neither Hamas nor Iran were seeking a regional war, the killing needed to be avenged.
Confirmed information about the circumstances of Haniyeh’s death remains sparse and Iranian officials have so far been reluctant to reveal many details of the investigation into the attack.
On Wednesday, the Iranian parliament’s commission of national security and foreign policy held an emergency meeting to discuss the killing of the Hamas official.
But a senior police official told the commission he had no information to pass onto MPs, and no one from the IRGC attended the meeting.
The accounts heard appear to raise questions about reports that Haniyeh may have been killed by a bomb placed inside the building where he was staying.
On Thursday, the New York Times reported that Haniyeh had been killed by a sophisticated bomb planted in his room some two months earlier.
But the IRGC-aligned Fars news agency reported that the investigation indicated that Haniyeh had been “struck by a projectile” and concluded that Israel’s involvement “cannot be ruled out”.
Israel has not denied responsibility for the killing. But asked about Haniyeh’s death at a press conference on Thursday, military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said: “Other than the elimination of senior Hezbollah leader Fuad Shukr in Lebanon, we did not conduct any airstrikes that night anywhere in the Middle East.”
‘Rage and revenge’
Responding to that assassination, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised address on Thursday that Israel had “crossed a line” by killing Shukr, adding that it would face a fierce response.
Israel should expect “rage and revenge on all the fronts supporting Gaza,” Nasrallah said.
Following Nasrallah’s speech, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country was “prepared for what may come.”
“Israel is in a state of very high readiness for any scenario – on both defence and offence,” he said. “We will exact a very high price for any act of aggression against us from any quarter whatsoever.”
So far, Netanyahu has made no mention of Haniyeh’s killing but in recent days has said that Israel delivered crushing blows to Iran’s proxies and would forcefully respond to any attack.
“We are prepared for any scenario and we will stand united and determined against any threat. Israel will exact a heavy price for any aggression against us from any arena,” he said.
The latest assassinations appear to set back chances of any imminent ceasefire agreement in the nearly 10-month war on Gaza.
Hamas’ armed wing said in a statement that Haniyeh’s killing would “take the battle to new dimensions and have major repercussions”.
Vowing to retaliate, Iran declared three days of national mourning and said the US also bore responsibility because of its support for Israel.
Speaking in Mongolia on Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that the region was heading towards more “conflict, more violence, suffering, or insecurity, and it is crucial that we break the cycle.”
“It’s urgent that all parties make the right choices in the days ahead because those choices are the difference between staying on this path of violence, of insecurity, of suffering, or moving to something very different and much better for all parties concerned,” he said.
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas-led fighters on 7 October killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and took some 250 captive.
Amid the relentless Israeli bombardment, more than 39,400 people have been killed in Gaza and most of the enclave’s population of 2.3 million people have been repeatedly displaced.
Whilst the mood has appeared to be buoyant in Israel following the assassinations, residents in Gaza have said they have had little time to mourn Haniyeh and have been preoccupied with trying to survive.
“Israel has been killing us for about 300 days, so what’s new about this?” Nermine Basel, a 29-year-old displaced Palestinian in Deir al-Balah told.
“[Israel] is killing and stripping Palestinians of any right to life simply for choosing not to submit to the occupation,” she added.
