The UN Security Council will convene for an emergency meeting on Wednesday after Hamas announced the death of its leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in an alleged Israeli strike on Iran’s capital. The meeting, scheduled for 4:00 pm (2000 GMT), has been requested by Iran and supported by Russia, China, and Algeria, according to a spokesperson for the Russian presidency, which currently holds the rotating leadership of the council.
Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, claimed that Haniyeh was killed during an Israeli airstrike in Tehran, where he was attending the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian. The group has vowed that this act “will not go unanswered”.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also threatened “harsh punishment” for Haniyeh’s death, declaring: “We consider it our duty to seek revenge for his blood as he was martyred in the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” Echoing Khamenei’s sentiments, Iran’s newly inaugurated president, Pezeshkian, stated: “The Zionists will soon see the consequences of their cowardly and terrorist act.” He added that Israeli policies “have reached a dead end.”
Haniyeh had travelled to Tehran on Tuesday for the swearing-in ceremony of Pezeshkian. Following news of his death, the Iranian government declared three days of national mourning. Hamas has announced that an “official and public” funeral for Haniyeh will be held in Tehran on Thursday. His body will then be transported to Qatar, his base in recent years, for burial on Friday.
Demonstrations erupted in Tehran’s Palestine Square on Wednesday, with protestors waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Death to Israel, Death to America!” Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas condemned Haniyeh’s killing as a “cowardly act,” while Palestinian factions in the Israeli-occupied West Bank called for a general strike and protest marches across the territory.
