THE POLITICAL face of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed overnight in Iran in a suspected Israeli airstrike.
Haniyeh, one of the founding members of the terror group, unflinchingly represented the bloodthirsty cult for decades, even past the death of his own children.
He was taken out at around 2am local time, Iranian media claimed, when his accommodation - a "special residence for war veterans" - was struck by a missile.
Hours before the strike, Haniyeh sat alongside other leaders from Iran's so-called "axis of resistance" - Hezbollah, the Houthis and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The terror group leaders, dressed in suits, sat alongside one another in the front row for the swearing in of Iran's new president, Masoud Pezeshkian.
Chants of "death to America" and "death to Israel" spilled from the crowd as a speaker mentioned the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Haniyeh, 62, was responsible for running Hamas' political operations from Doha, Qatar's capital.
Born in a refugee camp in northern Gaza, he lead the group through several wars with Israel and served as a fundamental power player for the cult.
Over the last ten months he had been responsible for conducting ceasefire talks, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US.
He survived an Israeli assassination attempt in 2003, before the IDF took out his mentor - the founder of Hamas itself Sheik Ahmed Yassin - in 2004.
Standing outside a hospital in Gaza at the time, the man who would become one of Hamas' principal leaders urged people not to cry but to focus on revenge instead.
By 2006 he was working as the leader of Hamas in Gaza, a position now held by Israel's number one enemy - Yahya Sinwar.
He moved to Qatar in 2017 when he was named as the group's new political leader.
The group was trying to change its image at the time as it made bids across the international stage for more influence.
Haniyeh represented the Iran-backed terror proxy in Qatar, Turkey, Lebanon, Iran and Egypt.
His ruthless approach to furthering the Hamas agenda would overrule even the assassination of his own children and grandchildren years later.
In April this year an Israeli airstrike killed three of Haniyeh's sons and four of his grandchildren.
In June, Hamas claimed his sister and her family were also killed by an Israeli strike.
Haniyeh simply said at the time: “We shall not give in, no matter the sacrifices."
He added that he had lost dozens of family members over years of war between Hamas and Israel.
The terror boss was given news of his children's deaths while on a hospital visit. After hearing the news, he continued to tour the building as normal.
One of his son's, Abdul Salam Haniyeh, said on Wednesday: "My father survived four assassination attempts during his patriotic journey, and today Allah has granted him the martyrdom that he always wished for.
"He was very keen to establish national unity and strived for the unity of all Palestinian factions and we affirm that this assassination will not deter the resistance, which will fight until freedom is achieved."
Haniyeh spent time inside Israeli prisons in the 1980s and 1990s.
By 1988 he was among the founding members of Hamas, working under Yassin.
His death serves as a fundamental blow to the group - with leaders dubbing it a "treacherous Zionist raid" on Wednesday morning.
Haniyeh and just one bodyguard were killed in a precision missile strike as they slept in a military veterans’ building in Tehran.
Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence arm somehow discovered exactly which room he was sleeping in within scores in the block.
A guided missile was then fired through the window of his room and detonated inside, killing him and his aide instantly.
Israel’s Mossad assassins could easily have eliminated Haniyeh as he led ceasefire talks in Qatar but chose to watch him and wait till he set foot on the territory of arch enemy Iran before taking him out.
The move was intended to limit political fallout - but sparked vows of Iranian revenge within hours.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has vowed a “harsh punishment" for Haniyeh’s death.
Khamenei raged that it was "Tehran's duty" to avenge him.
Haniyeh's specific involvement in the October 7 massacre is unclear, as with so many Hamas figureheads working outside the Strip.
But an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) was issued for Haniyeh in May, as chief prosecutor Karim Khan said the court believes he committed "war crimes and crimes against humanity".
Hezbollah, fellow Iran-backed militant group and ally of Hamas, also condemned the strike on Haniyeh today.
The blow that took him out came only hours after another suspected Israeli hit wiped out a Hezbollah commander.
Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah's most senior military commander, was killed in a "targeted" strike.
Their strike hit the south of Beirut, capital of Lebanon, where the group is based.
Hezbollah on Wednesday vowed to make any other Iran-backed groups more determined to strike against Israel.
The Yemen-based Houthis, one such group, said it marks a "major escalation".
Israel has yet to claim responsibility for the hit on Haniyeh but did vow to wipe out every member of the terror group Hamas after the October 7 massacre last year.
Hamas stormed the Israeli border in a horrifying morning raid, killing some 1,200 people and taking 250 hostage, with more than a third of the captives now believed to be dead.
In the months since some 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) says it has opened a "situation assessment" to investigate Monday night's strike on Tehran.
Qatar, Turkey and Russia all slammed the hit with Putin's Moscow calling it an "unacceptable political murder".
Xi Jinping's China said it opposes and condemns the act of "assassination".
