Tel Aviv, 24 December 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Israel on Monday for the first time confirmed it was behind the July killing of Palestinian Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital Tehran.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz gave the confirmation in a statement made during a speech about further action against the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen, which attacks Israel with missiles and drones.

"We will attack the strategic infrastructure of the Houthis and decapitate their leaders. Just as we did with Haniyeh, Sinwar, and Nasrallah in Tehran, the Gaza Strip, and Lebanon," Katz said, according to a statement from his ministry.

Israel killed the Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, Yehya al-Sinwar, on October 16 and the leader of the Lebanese Shiite organization Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, on September 27 in the Lebanese capital, Beirut. Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis are all supported by Iran.

The 62-year-old Haniyeh was killed overnight on July 31 by a deliberately induced explosion in a guest house of the Iranian government in Tehran. Haniyeh, who was visiting Iran, had been a member of Hamas for decades and had recently been leading the terrorist organization from Qatar.

Photo: EPA