JERUSALEM: Defence Minister Israel Katz on Monday acknowledged that Israel had assassinated former Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran earlier this year, while warning that it would also “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 Hodeida and Sanaa,” Katz said.

His remarks at an event at the defence ministry mark the first public acknowledgement that Israel was behind the targeting of Haniyeh in the Iranian capital late July, just a day after he attended the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

“Anyone who raises a hand against Israel will have his hand cut off, and the long arm of the IDF (Israeli military) will strike him and hold him accountable,” Katz said, according to a statement issued by the ministry.

Although Tel Aviv owned up to the attacks that targeted Sinwar and Nasrallah, this is the first admission from an Israeli official that it was involved in the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian soil.

In October, tensions between the two regional arch-rivals came to a head when Iran launched what it described as a barrage of missiles at targets within Israel. Although Israel claimed it destroyed most of the projectiles before they impacted, a number of missiles did hit various areas across the country, although no widespread loss of life was reported.

Tehran had claimed at the time that the attack was a response to the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, IRGC commander Abbas Nilfor­oushan, as well as the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2024