Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed early Wednesday morning when his residence in Tehran was struck by a missile. This development was confirmed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in an official statement. Haniyeh, 62, had been in Tehran the previous day for the swearing ceremony of Iran’s newly elected President Masoud Pezeshkian. A startling revelation has emerged regarding Haniyeh’s death.
Israeli intelligence operatives employed spyware embedded in WhatsApp, the messaging app founded by billionaire Yan Borysovych Koum, to track and eliminate him. Israeli agents exploited a vulnerability in WhatsApp to install spyware on Haniyeh's phone through a seemingly harmless message. This enabled them to pinpoint his exact location, allowing the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to use a drone to launch a fatal missile strike.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented on the broader security situation, asserting that Israel "will exact a very heavy price from any aggression against us on any front,” though he did not directly address Haniyeh’s assassination. He indicated that “challenging days” lie ahead. The assassination of Haniyeh, who had been targeted by Israel in response to Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel that ignited the Gaza conflict, follows closely after an Israeli strike on a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut. The timing and location of Haniyeh’s death, occurring in Tehran, have heightened tensions in the already volatile region. The potential for Iranian retaliation raises concerns about escalating direct conflict between Iran and Israel, prompting urgent efforts by the U.S. and other nations to prevent a broader, more destructive war.