Instant Reaction: Hamas Leader Assassinated in Iran

Published Jul 31, 2024, 10:11 AM

Hamas says Israel killed its political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in an airstrike on Iran’s capital, putting the Middle East even further on edge. Bloomberg's Nathan Hager and Joumanna Bercetche break down the details.

This is breaking new US from Bloomberg. Hamas says Israel killed its political leader Ismael Hania in an airstrike on Tehran. Hania is a chief negotiator for Hamas. He was in Iran's capital for the inauguration of the country's new president. Bloomberg's Dan Williams in Jerusalem says the killing follows the recent death of another top level Hamas official.

It's very, very impressive in terms of operations. We're talking about two Middle East capitals, two very senior targets with apparently very limited damage around them. Kind of surgical strikes that could also be considered of strategic value. So in a sense, Netaniel will have burnished his credentials here having been batted by the October seventh attacks that really blindsided Israel and cause casualties on an unprecedented scale.

Bloomberg's Dan william says Hennia's death follows an Israeli strike on Beirut last night, targeting a senior Hesbola commander. That attack was a response to a rocket assault that killed twelve young people in the Israeli controlled goal On Heights over the weekend. Joining US from Dubai is Bloomberg Middle East anchor Jumana Bursechi, Jumana, good morning. It has been a rapidly developing series of situations in just the last seven hour span, between the killing of the Hesbola commander and now the death of Ismail Hania. What is the risk of further escalation at this point?

Well, at this point, the risk of further escalation is certainly a lot higher than it was twenty four hours ago. Two senior commanders taken out in the space of twelve hours. As you rightly point out, the strike in Beirut took out a senior Hesbola commander very close to Hesbala leader, said Hassan Asrela. But then the strike in Iran was also a very surprising development. Ismail Hani, the leader of Hamas, was killed in that assassination. And the interesting thing is that it happened on Iranian soil. And because of that, the comments that have come out of Iran just in the last couple of hours or so have been very inflammatory. The president, the new president, who was receiving his inauguration sermon me yesterday, put out a statement saying we will defend our territorial integrity, and that is not, of course, the fact that the incident happens on Iranian soil and Iran will make terrorists. This is a quote regret their action. That was followed up by quotes from the Ayatollah, the Supreme Leader, saying that the severe punishment awaits Israel. So very strong wording coming out of Iran, and interesting with the backdrop, of course being that the new president had campaigned on being a reformist and reopening up some of the diplomatic channels with the West.

It seems as though that window is closing now.

Yeah, we all remember the last time Israel struck Iran's territory with that drone attack. There was that massive response of hundreds of drones and missiles fired at Israel. With the changed political situation in Iran now with a new president, what could the calculus be at this point.

The calculus is that anytime an attack happens on Iranian territory or Iranian soil, the leadership are going to see an impetus to want to respond back. In April, what you saw was a very targeted strike capital on both sides. So when Iran responded to the Israeli attack on the consulate in Syria. Again, they had very much telegraphed beforehands what they were going to do. The Israeli response in retaliation to that, again was quite surgical in nature as well, and since then there's been this period of the terrence. But on the back of this latest event that is unfolded on Iranian territory, there will be an imperative from the IRGC for them to come out with some sort of response, and not just from Iran itself, but including from the rest of the region and the other allies that IT funds and backs in the region, including hezbalan Hamas themselves, And if you listen to some of the commentary that's come out of other regional leaders, Katari PM putting out a statement saying, how can mediation succeed when one party kills negotiator?

Here giving a nod of course.

To the fact that Isma Hanini Hani was the chief negotiator with these ceasefire discussions.

Those also seemingly being put on hold as well.

Now I wanted to get a little bit more into that as well. As you mentioned he was one of the key negotiators in ceasefire talks in Gaza. Where do those negotiations stand now where could they go?

These comments from the Katari Prime minister are really key. They came out just about half an hour ago, saying that it is impossible to continue the diplomatic avenue and to continue with these negotiations given that the chief negotiator on the part of Hamas has actually been killed. So it does raise a lot of questions as to the avenue forward from here. From the Israeli perspective, there has been a lot of domestic turmoil, a lot of division within the Israeli government, and I think this also reframes the narrative around the regional developments now is a win for the Prime Minister in Natanya who and his coalition which have vowed to eliminate TAMAS leaders since the October seventh attacks, So it probably buys them a little bit more time. And what it does mean is the likelihood of a ceasefire deal or truth being got to has gone down.

Bloomberg's Jumana Barsacchi with us from Dubai this morning. I know it's been a very busy time for you, Jamana, so thank you for giving us some of your time this morning. Jumana Barsecchi from Dubai