Political leader of Hamas killed by Israeli airstrike in Iran, group says | First Thing

Assassination fuels fears of widening regional war. Plus, Simone Biles leads USA to gold

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Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, was killed by an airstrike in Tehran in the early hours of Wednesday morning, the group said, just hours after Israel claimed it had killed a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut.

What has Israel said? The Israeli military declined to comment on Haniyeh's death. Israel vowed to kill all Hamas leaders after the 7 October attacks and its intelligence services have a history of covert attacks inside Iran, mostly targeting scientists from the Iranian nuclear programme.

How has Hamas reacted? Haniyeh's killing was a grave escalation that will not achieve its goals", a Hamas official told Reuters. US officials have for months been leading a global diplomatic effort to prevent the war in Gaza escalating into a broader and even more dangerous regional conflict.

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