• Source:JND
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In a first, Israel took responsibility publicly for killing Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran in July. The announcement came from the Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz who admitted killing Haniyeh, raising tensions between Tehran and its arch-enemy Israel in a region shaken by Israel's war in Gaza and the conflict in Lebanon.

"These days, when the Houthi terrorist organization is firing missiles at Israel, I want to convey a clear message to them at the beginning of my remarks: We have defeated Hamas, we have defeated Hezbollah, we have blinded Iran's defense systems, and damaged the production systems, we have toppled the Assad regime in Syria, we have dealt a severe blow to the axis of evil, and we will also deal a severe blow to the Houthi terrorist organization in Yemen, which remains the last to stand," Katz said.

He further added that Israel will "damage their strategic infrastructure, and we will behead their leaders just as we did to Haniyeh, Sinwar and Nasrallah in Tehran, Gaza and Lebanon we will do it in Hodeidah and Sana'a."

For over a year, the Iran-supported group in Yemen has been targeting commercial ships in the Red Sea in an effort to impose a naval blockade on Israel, claiming they are taking action in support of the Palestinians amid Israel's ongoing conflict in Gaza.

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In late July, Hamas' political leader was killed in Tehran, and Iranian officials blamed Israel for the assassination. However, Israel did not publicly claim responsibility for Haniyeh's death.

Haniyeh, normally based in Qatar, had been the face of Hamas' international diplomacy as the war set off by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7 has raged in Gaza.

He had been taking part in internationally brokered indirect talks on reaching a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave. Months after, Israeli forces in Gaza killed Yahya Sinwar, Haniyeh's successor and the mastermind of the October 7, 2023, attack that triggered the latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

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