Airstrikes killed Hamas's political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran overnight, in an incident which came hours after an Israeli drone strike on Beirut's southern suburb targeting Hezbollah senior figure Fuad Shukr.
Both moves are a major escalation by Israel that could trigger a major response from the Iran-backed Axis of Resistance that counts in its ranks Hamas, Hezbollah, Yemen's Houthis and Iran's Popular Mobilization Forces among others.
Haniyeh was being hosted by Iran's Revolutionary Guards and reportedly stayed in a building of Iran army veterans. Reports suggest Palestinian Islamic Jihad official Ziad Nakhaleh was in the same building.
Iranian reports say that the air strike occurred around 2am local time.
Haniyeh arrived in Tehran on Tuesday to attend the inauguration of Iran's new President Masoud Pezeshkian in parliament. He had met with Pezeshkian as well as Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Haniyeh, who resided in Qatar, had long been a target for Israel, with Tel Aviv having killed three sons and four grandchildren of the Hamas leader in Gaza in April.
Israel has refused to comment on Haniyeh's assassination, but has stressed its desire to "work on ceasefire negotiations and hostage-release talks" with Qatar, the key mediator between Hamas and Israel, who condemned Haniyeh's killing.
Meanwhile, in Gaza, Israel’s military has kept up its relentless attacks, bombing and shelling al-Mawasi and Abasan al-Kabira in the south and Gaza City and Jabalia in the north.
At least eight people have been killed on Wednesday in Az-Zawayda, in central Gaza.