Israel admits to killing Hamas' Haniyeh for first time

Defence Minister Israel Katz has acknowledged that Israel had assassinated former Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran earlier this year, as he vowed the military would "decapitate" the leadership of Yemen's Houthis.

"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, we will do so in Hudaida and Sanaa," Katz said on Monday, in the first public acknowledgement that Israel was behind the assassination of Haniyeh in July in the Iranian capital.

In late July, the political leader of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas was murdered in Tehran in an assassination blamed on Israel.

There was no direct claim of responsibility by Israel for the assassination of Haniyeh at the time.

Haniyeh, normally based in Qatar, had been the face of Hamas' international diplomacy.

He had been taking part in internationally brokered indirect talks on reaching a ceasefire in the blockaded enclave.

Haniyeh lost about 60 members of his family who had been killed since Israel's war on Gaza started on October 7.

Series of assassinations

On September 27, Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a Beirut attack.

On October 16, Israel killed Haniyeh's successor, Yahya Sinwar, in besieged Gaza.

The assassinations raised fears that Israel could drag the region into an all-out-war and prompted suspicions that Tel Aviv is not serious about reaching a ceasefire.

Israel has killed over 45,300 Palestinians, mostly women and children, so far in its carnage in the blockaded enclave.

It has also caused a massive shortage of basic necessities, including food, water, electricity and medicine, while displacing almost the entire population in the enclave.