Top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated on Wednesday by an explosive device that was allegedly carried into the guesthouse in Tehran where he was staying a full two months before, according to seven Middle Eastern sources who spoke to the New York Times, two of whom were Iranian and one of whom was American.
Five officials from the Middle East said that the bomb had been stashed in the guesthouse about two months earlier.
Situated in a posh district of northern Tehran, the guesthouse is part of the Neshat enclave, which is overseen and guarded by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
For the presidential inauguration, Mr. Haniyeh was in the capital of Iran. The five authorities stated that after it was established he was in his guesthouse room, the explosive was remotely detonated.
A bodyguard was also killed in the blast.
The two Iranian officials who were informed on the situation said that the explosion rocked the structure, broke some windows, and partially collapsed an external wall.
The building’s damage was also seen in a picture that was provided to The New York Times.
The Middle Eastern officials claimed that Mr. Haniyeh, who had headed Hamas’s political office in Qatar, had stayed at the guesthouse multiple times while in Tehran.
The officials all discussed critical information on the assassination while speaking anonymously.
Israel is believed to be behind the assassination, according to statements made on Wednesday by Hamas and Iranian officials. Several anonymous U.S. officials also came to the same conclusion.
The assassination serves as a threat to derail the ongoing talks to put an end to the Gaza War and could also start a new round of hostilities in the Middle East.
[READ MORE: Israel Kills Two Top Terror Leaders in Less Than 24 hours, Putting Region on Brink of Massive War]
