How Israel Targeted Hamas Leader in Iran?

This incident took place on the night of July 31, 2024, around 2 a.m. In Tehran, the capital of Iran, a loud explosion was heard inside the presidential palace compound.

It was neither an ordinary day, nor was the location where the explosion occurred an ordinary place.

The day was unusual because it was the second day of the oath-taking ceremony of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian.

Inside this green compound, where several royal palaces can be seen, there is a five-story building on one side where state guests of Iran stay. The explosion occurred on the third floor of this building.

On that day, the guesthouse was not hosting an ordinary person. Instead, it was hosting Ismail Haniyeh, the former Prime Minister of Palestine and a leader of Hamas.

This was a high-profile assassination. It was widely claimed that Israel’s intelligence agency was behind the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh. However, as usual, Mossad and Israel did not make any official statement.

The Hamas leader was killed inside the Iranian president’s compound, while he was under the protection of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and he was there as a state guest.

If Israel really carried out this operation, several questions arise:

How was such an operation conducted nearly 2,000 km away from Israel?

Why was Ismail Haniyeh killed in such a unique manner?

He had come to Iran only as a guest, while he usually stayed in Egypt, Qatar, or Turkey.

So why was he targeted specifically in Iran?

If we look at some targeted operations carried out by Mossad, one thing appears very common: fear.

Whether it was the execution of Adolf Eichmann, bombing nuclear reactors in Syria, assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists, or attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon, the goal was often to send a message of intimidation.

Interestingly, many Hamas leaders live openly in Qatar. Even the Hamas headquarters is located there.

In fact, the U.S. military, an ally of Israel, is also stationed in Qatar. Hamas members do not live there in hiding. Ismail Haniyeh himself spent many years in Qatar, yet he was never attacked there.

So why not target him in Qatar? It would have been much easier.

To understand the reason, we have to go 14 years back, when Mossad made a major mistake.

In 2010, Mossad planned to assassinate Mahmoud al‑Mabhouh, a logistics officer of Hamas. They believed his job was to purchase weapons from Iran and transport them to the Gaza Strip, and they also believed he had killed two Israeli soldiers in the past.

The operation was called “Plasma Screen.” It was planned to take place in Dubai.

About 20 Mossad agents participated. They had to enter Dubai in disguise. The problem was that at the time 24 countries did not recognize Israeli passports, and Dubai was one of them.

Therefore, the agents had to travel using foreign passports.

Israel had a system for this. They identified people in Israel who had dual nationality — meaning an Israeli passport and another one, such as British, American, or Australian.

An officer would approach them and ask whether they planned to travel soon using their second passport. If they said no, they were asked whether their passport details could be used for Israel’s national security. Many people agreed.

Using such passports, Mossad agents entered Dubai.

During the first visit, they followed Mahmoud and observed his movements. But before they could act, he left Dubai.

On their second visit, they again entered Dubai using the same passports. This time they managed to poison his coffee, but he did not die. He fell ill and returned to Syria.

Two or three months later, Mahmoud returned to Dubai, and the Mossad agents followed him again.

This time they booked rooms in the same hotel. Disguised as tennis players, some agents followed him into the elevator and identified his room.

Four agents later entered his room and waited. When Mahmoud returned from shopping, they killed him using an ultrasonic device capable of stopping a person’s heart without leaving physical marks.

The operation looked like something from a Hollywood movie, except for one mistake — all their movements were recorded on CCTV.

Dubai police later reviewed the footage and immigration records. They discovered that 20 agents had entered Dubai at the same time as Mahmoud, and all of them left the country within two hours of his death.

Arrest warrants were issued.

The passports used belonged to Australian, British, Irish, and German citizens. When those people found out their identities were used in a murder, they were furious.

The incident received international media coverage, damaging Israel’s reputation among its allies.

Since then, Israel has tried to avoid conducting such operations in allied countries.

That is why Hamas leaders living in Qatar are rarely targeted there.

In 2011, Barack Obama personally requested Qatar to host Hamas leadership so negotiations with the group could take place there.

Because Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey are U.S. allies, targeting Hamas leaders there could cause diplomatic problems.

However, Iran is not a U.S. ally. That is why targeting Ismail Haniyeh in Iran was considered easier.

Mossad reportedly knew that whenever Haniyeh visited Tehran, he stayed at the presidential guesthouse.

Then an event happened that made his visit predictable: the 2024 Iranian presidential helicopter crash on May 19, 2024, which killed Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi.

A new presidential inauguration was planned, and it was expected that Ismail Haniyeh would be invited.

According to reports, a bomb was planted under a bed in the guesthouse weeks before the ceremony. It was remote-controlled, not a timer bomb.

The inauguration ceremony took place on July 28, 2024. Haniyeh attended the ceremony, met Ali Khamenei, and later stayed at the guesthouse.

At around 1:40 a.m., once the lights in his room were turned off, the attackers detonated the bomb remotely, causing the deadly explosion.

For Israel, such operations are often meant to create fear among enemies — sending a message that no matter how secure they think they are, they can be targeted anywhere, anytime.