Does the video show the place of the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh?
A video clip circulated on social media accompanied by a text stating "The place where Ismail Haniyeh was targeted in Tehran."
The truth
The video is old and does not show the place where Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), was targeted. The clip dates back to April 2024 and shows the ruins at the site of the Iranian consulate in Damascus after it was attacked at that time, which killed at least five people, according to the Iranian ambassador in Syria, who blamed Israeli warplanes.
Haniyeh was killed early Wednesday morning, July 31, 2024, in an airstrike that targeted his residence in Tehran after he participated in the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian president. Iranian official media reported that Haniyeh was killed around two in the morning, adding that he was staying at a veterans' residence in northern Tehran, according to France 24.
Hamas accused Israel of being behind the attack, while the Israeli army said it "does not respond to reports in foreign media" when asked to comment on Hamas's claim that Haniyeh was killed in a "Zionist raid" in Tehran, according to CNN.
Ismail Abdul Salam Ahmed Haniyeh, nicknamed (Abu al-Abed), was born in Gaza in 1962. He assumed the presidency of the Palestinian Authority government in 2006 and was elected head of the Hamas political bureau in 2017, succeeding Khaled Mashal.
Note
On August 9, 2024, at 07:09 PM, the article was edited to correct the name of the media outlet that reported the news and the place where Haniya was killed. The correct name is "France 24" instead of "Agence France-Presse," which was mentioned before the correction.