Joe Biden has said that the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh ‘doesn’t help’ ceasefire talks after the top Hamas leader was ‘wiped out in an Israeli strike’.
Haniyeh was killed during a visit to Tehran, Iran’s capital, on Wednesday after an explosive device erupted inside a heavily guarded guesthouse where he was staying for the presidential inauguration.
Iran and its allies have pointed the finger of blame at Israel, but the country is yet to claim any responsibility for the death of the senior official.
Biden said he was ‘very concerned’ about the rising tensions in the Middle East, adding: ‘We have the basis for a ceasefire. He [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] should move on it and they [Hamas] should move on it now’.
The president’s comments were the first on Haniyeh’s assassination since the terror group’s chief was killed.
US President Joe Biden has said the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh ‘doesn’t help’ talks over a potential ceasefire in Gaza
Haniyeh was assassinated on Wednesday by an explosive device that was reportedly smuggled into a Tehran guest house two months ago
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, pictured in Iran on Tuesday hours before his death
‘It doesn’t help,’ Biden told reporters late on Thursday, when asked if Haniyeh’s assassination ruined the chances for a ceasefire agreement.
Biden also said he had a direct conversation with Netanyahu earlier on Thursday.
‘The President discussed efforts to support Israel’s defense against threats, including against ballistic missiles and drones, to include new defensive US military deployments,’ the White House said in a statement.
Biden reaffirmed his commitment to Israel’s security against all threats from Iran, including its ‘proxy terrorist groups’ Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.
Ensuring Washington’s commitment to Israel’s defense, Biden stressed the importance of ongoing efforts to deescalate broader tensions in the region.
Israel’s tensions with Iran and Hezbollah have fanned fears of a widened conflict in a region already on edge amid Israel’s assault on Gaza which has killed tens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis.
It was reported on Thursday, that the bomb used to kill Haniyeh was smuggled into the guesthouse two months before his assassination.
The bomb was said to have been covertly placed inside the building, despite the complex being protected by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, sources told the New York Times.
A bodyguard was also killed as a result of the blast which Iranian officials and Hamas said Wednesday was caused by Israel.
After Haniyeh was killed, it was believed he had died from a missile strike – but it has now been reported that a lapse in Iran’s defences meant assassins were able to covertly plant and hide the bomb for several weeks before it would be triggered.
The bomb was detonated once it had been confirmed Haniyeh (pictured) was in his room
Displaced Palestinians leave western Khan Yunis to areas in the eastern parts of the city following reports of Israeli forces withdrawing from the area on July 30
Smoke rises from an Israeli air strike in Rafah as seen from Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza strip, on July 29
Palestinians mourn for their relatives killed in Israeli airstrikes hit the eastern areas of Khan Yunis, at Nasser Hospital in Gaza City, Gaza on July 28
But questions around how such a catastrophic breach of security was made remain unanswered with Middle Eastern officials admitting that the execution of such an attack would have taken months of surveillance and planning.
While Iran has vowed ‘revenge’ for Haniyeh’s death, it is not expected his killing will lead to a dramatic escalation of the regional conflict.
‘What this offers is a head on a silver platter,’ Dr Andreas Krieg, associate professor of Security Studies at King’s College London, told MailOnline.
‘Netanyahu can say this is the end of the organisation. And that’s pretty much as close as Israel will ever get to defeating Hamas.
‘But that can only work if Israel says now ‘we’re willing to enter ceasefire talks.”
‘All sides don’t want all out war. All sides want to maintain their reputation. Nobody wants to lose face. These people are replaceable.
‘All sides will find a way in this tit-for-tat escalation to respond in measure beyond a certain ceiling… all sides have been pushing the threshold but on all accounts they have always tried not to breach it.’
Haniyeh’s assassination came at a time of rising tensions in the Middle East.
On Saturday, 12 children and young people were killed after a strike on a football field in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Israel blamed Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement and vowed ‘severe’ retaliation, though Hezbollah has denied any involvement.
On Tuesday, just hours before the killing of Haniyeh, Israel killed senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr, who it said was behind the attack on the Golan Heights, in a targeted air strike in Beirut.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on October 7 when Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
In its 10-month-old campaign of bombardment and offensives in Gaza, Israel has killed some 39,480 Palestinians and wounded more than 91,100 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, whose count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
More than 80% of the population of 2.3 million have been driven from their homes, the vast majority crammed into tent camps in the south-west corner of the territory, with limited food and water.
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