Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz has confirmed the killing of the top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh last summer and has threatened to kill the Houthi rebel group’s leadership in Yemen.
Israel Katz’s remarks seemed to be the first time that Israel had admitted to the murder of Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in an explosion in Iran in July. Leaders have previously hinted at Israel’s involvement in the incident, which was largely assumed to be its fault.
“We will strike hard at the Houthis… and decapitate their leadership – just as we did with Haniyeh, [Yahya] Sinwar, and [Hassan] Nasrallah in Tehran, Gaza, and Lebanon,” Katz said, according to The Guardian. On July 31, Haniyeh, who was renowned for spearheading Hamas’s ceasefire negotiations in Gaza, was assassinated in a Tehran guesthouse. According to reports, the assassination was carried out using an explosive device that Israeli agents had installed weeks prior.
Throughout the fight, the Iranian-backed Houthis have fired many drones and missiles at Israel, including one that landed in Tel Aviv on Saturday and wounded at least 16 people. Israel has vowed to increase pressure on the rebel group until the missile attacks cease and has conducted three rounds of airstrikes in Yemen during the conflict.
It is also reported that Haniyeh’s murder comes after the murders of other important figures, such as Hassan Nasrallah of Hezbollah in Beirut on September 27 and Yahya Sinwar of Hamas in Gaza on October 16.
