Israel, for the first time, publicly confirmed their involvement in the July killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. In his warning to the Houthis amid their recent attacks, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz confirmed the involvement in killing Haniyeh. “Israel will damage their strategic infrastructure, and we will behead their leaders – just as we did to Haniyeh, Sinwar and Nasrallah in Tehran, Gaza and Lebanon – we will do it in Hodeidah and Sana’a,” Katz said during an event honoring defense ministry personnel.

Speaking about the Houthis he also said, “These days, when the Houthi terrorist organization is firing missiles at Israel, I want to convey a clear message to them at the beginning of my remarks: We have defeated Hamas, we have defeated Hezbollah, we have blinded Iran’s defense systems and damaged the production systems, we have toppled the Assad regime in Syria, we have dealt a severe blow to the axis of evil, and we will also deal a severe blow to the Houthi terrorist organization in Yemen, which remains the last to stand.”

While this is the first public acknowledgement from Israel, Iranian authorities had already previously attributed the assassination to Israel.

Haniyeh, operating from Qatar, led Hamas’ international diplomacy during the Gaza war, which began with a Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. He also participated in ceasefire negotiations.
Following Haniyeh’s death in Iran’s capital, Israeli forces also killed Yahya Sinwar in Gaza. Sinwar, Haniyeh’s successor, was considered the architect of the October 7 attack that sparked the latest Israeli-Palestinian conflict.