Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were killed after an attack on his residence in Tehran early this morning, according to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The news has been confirmed by Hamas, which accused Israel of carrying out the attack.

"The head of the movement, who was killed in a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran, after participating in the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian president. To Allah we belong and to Him we shall return. And it is a jihad, victory or martyrdom," Hamas said in a statement.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri described Haniyeh's assassination as a "grave escalation that will not achieve its goals", adding that the group would wage "open war to liberate Jerusalem".

Meanwhile, senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk described the attack on Haniyeh as a "cowardly act that will not go unpunished".

According to Iran's Fars news agency, Haniyeh was killed by "a projectile from the air" somewhere in north of Tehran.

Haniyeh is the international face of Hamas and the most senior leader of the Palestinian resistance group to be assassinated by Israel since the 2004 attack that killed its spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in Gaza.

The 62-year-old Haniyeh was head of Hamas' political bureau, and had been living in Qatar since 2023.

In April, Haniyeh family members, including three of his sons and five grandchildren, were killed as their car was targeted in an Israeli air strike during the first day of the Eid al-Fitr at the Shati refugee camp in Gaza.

Today's attack came hours after Israel said it killed a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut.

Israel said Fuad Shukr was the target of an "intelligence-based elimination", but the claim has not been verified.