Israeli Defense Minister Acknowledges Assassination of Hamas Leader, Threatens Houthis

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has said that Israel was responsible for the assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, Al Jazeera reports.

Katz’s remarks, made at a Ministry of Defence event on Monday evening, also included a stern warning to the Houthi movement in Yemen, threatening a “severe blow.”

“We have defeated Hamas, we have defeated Hezbollah, we have blinded Iran’s defence systems and damaged the production systems, we have toppled the [Bashar al-]Assad regime in Syria,” Katz said.

Katz warned that Israel intends to “damage [Houthi] 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 [Yemen’s] Hodeidah and Sanaa.” This statement referenced the previous assassinations of Hamas’s Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, further emphasizing Israel’s aggressive stance towards its adversaries.

The Houthi group has recently intensified attacks on Israel, including a recent missile strike on Tel Aviv on Saturday which utilized what they described as a hypersonic ballistic missile. This attack resulted in more than a dozen minor injuries when the missile struck a public park in Jaffa, evading Israeli defense systems.

The assassination of Ismail Haniyeh took place on July 31st while he was visiting Tehran to attend the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Iranian state media reported that Haniyeh and his bodyguard were killed by an “airborne guided projectile” that struck a residence for military veterans in northern Tehran at approximately 2 am local time. While Iranian and Palestinian officials immediately blamed Israel for the assassination, Israeli officials had until now neither confirmed nor denied their involvement.

Haniyeh’s death sparked outrage across Palestine and fueled fears of escalating regional conflict. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed “harsh punishment” in response. In October, Iran launched a missile barrage at several Israeli cities, claiming it was retaliation for the assassinations of its allies’ leaders, including those from Hamas and Hezbollah. While the Israeli army acknowledged only a “few” hits, two people were reportedly injured by falling shrapnel in the Tel Aviv area. Palestinian authorities also reported a fatality caused by falling debris in the occupied West Bank.