Middle East Monitor / August 17, 2024
Abdul Salam Haniyeh, the son of the late head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, has revealed new information about his father’s assassination in Tehran.
Abdul Salam shared in statements to Al-Arabiya channel that his father was killed by a missile attack via his mobile phone, adding: “It was a guided missile that tracked his mobile phone, which he placed at night in his room near his head, where he was directly hit.”
Abdul Salam denied previous allegations published by some media outlets about a planted bomb, explaining: “There were bodyguards and other advisors sitting in a room a few metres away from his room, so it is clear that if there were an explosive device, the entire place would have been blown up.”
Haniyeh’s son stressed that the phone made the Hamas leader an easy target, adding: “My father was attending an official ceremony and was carrying his mobile phone, so the operation was not very complicated.”
He revealed that his late father had used his phone constantly that day, noting: “He even used it at 10:15 p.m. on the night he was martyred.”
Haniyeh and his bodyguard were killed on 31 July, shortly after the inauguration ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Later, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that a short-range shell carrying about seven kilograms of explosives was fired from outside the building.
The region is experiencing tension amid anticipation of a possible Iranian response to Haniyeh’s assassination after the IRGC blamed Tel Aviv for the crime and for involving Washington.
