Israel admits to assassinating Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh

By Zein Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israel confirmed Monday that it assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and issued a stark warning to the leadership of Yemen’s Houthi group, threatening similar action.

Defense Minister Israel Katz’s comments, aired on Israel’s public broadcaster, followed a ballistic missile strike two days earlier by the Houthis which Israel’s air defense systems failed to intercept. The missile struck Tel Aviv, injuring 20 people and damaging dozens of apartments, according to Israel’s Haaretz daily.

Earlier that evening, the Houthis also claimed responsibility for attacking two military targets in central and southern Israel using drones.

Addressing the ongoing attacks, Katz said that “in these days when the Houthi terrorist organization is firing missiles at Israel, I want to deliver a clear message: We will severely paralyze the Houthi terrorist organization in Yemen, which remains the last standing group of its kind.”

The Houthis, in solidarity with Gaza, which has been facing an Israeli genocidal war since Oct. 7, 2023, have targeted Israeli cargo ships or those associated with Tel Aviv in the Red Sea with missiles and drones, expressing a determination to continue operations until the end of the onslaught on the enclave.

Since the beginning of 2024, a coalition led by the US has been conducting airstrikes that it said are targeting Houthi locations in parts of Yemen in response to attacks by the group in the Red Sea. The counterattacks have been occasionally met with retaliation from the group.

Katz warned the Houthis, saying: “We will destroy their strategic infrastructure and eliminate their leaders, just as we did with Ismail Haniyeh, (Hamas leader) Yahya Sinwar and (Hezbollah Secretary General) Hassan Nasrallah. We will act in Al Hudaydah and Sana’a as we did in Tehran, Gaza and Lebanon.”

In a series of recent high-profile assassinations, Israel killed Nasrallah in a Sept. 27 airstrike on a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut. Sinwar was reportedly killed in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza on Oct. 17, while Haniyeh was assassinated in July during a visit to the Iranian capital Tehran.

Israeli media outlets, including Yedioth Ahronoth and Channel 12, noted that Katz’s admission of Haniyeh’s assassination marks the first public acknowledgment of the operation by a senior Israeli official.

Israel has continued a genocidal war on Gaza that has killed more than 45,300 people, most of them women and children, since an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.

Last month, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel is also facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio