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Hamas Political Leader Ismail Haniyeh Killed in Iran; Second Day of Protests in Venezuela Amid Disputed Election Results; Israel: Beirut Strike Killed Senior Hezbollah Commander; Hezbollah, Lebanese Officials Have Not Confirmed Death Of Fu'ad Shukr. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired July 31, 2024 - 00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[00:00:50]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Lynda Kinkade. We are following breaking news.

The political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, has been killed in Tehran. That's according to Iranian state media, which cites the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

You can see him here meeting with Iran's newly elected president. This happened just earlier today during the inauguration ceremony. And in a statement, Hamas claims that Haniyeh was killed in a, quote, "Zionist raid" on his residence in Tehran after that ceremony. There's no official word from the Israeli military when asked for comment. Only a brief statement saying, quote, "They don't respond to reports in the foreign media."

Haniyeh was a longtime member of Hamas joining in the late 1980s and rising through the ranks over the years before becoming the group's political chief in 2017.

Well, joining me now is CNN military analyst and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Good to have you with us on what is a very busy day of news in the Middle East. So Hamas' political later assassinated in Iran. This is the same day that we know Hezbollah's top military commander was killed in Beirut. What's your reaction?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, Lynda, this is a very significant time not only for the Israelis who probably have conducted this latest operation in Tehran and most certainly conducted the operation in Beirut. So what this shows is the capability of the Israeli intelligence services to reach out and touch the leadership of both Hamas and Hezbollah in areas where they were, in many cases, thought to have been almost immune from Israeli attacks.

But we know that the Israelis have gone after Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon for a long time. And of course, Hamas leaders in several other places as well to include Syria, Lebanon and now of course Iran. When it comes to Haniyeh, you are seeing somebody, the demise of someone who had a significant role to play in the entire really growth of Hamas. And of course so, you know, supposed to be, purported to be one of the architects of the October 7th attacks on Israel. So that of course made him a prime target for the Israelis.

And it is also a situation, Lynda, where these efforts by Hamas to in essence poison the atmosphere in the Middle East have resulted in a large portion of their forces being decimated to include their leadership. And of course, the death of Ismail Haniyeh would be the pinnacle of that kind of an outbreak.

KINKADE: And as you say, Colonel, he was not only involved we believe in the Hamas terror attack, but also involved in the hostage release and ceasefire talks that have been going on for weeks. What does that mean for those talks?

LEIGHTON: Well, I think at least temporarily it will probably stall those talks for some time. Hamas is going to have to regroup. They're going to have to figure out who their new political leaders are. This also puts the spotlight on the military leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, because it now would seem that his days are also potentially numbered when it comes to, you know, his ability to conduct his operations.

And that I think is going to have an adverse effect on the talks, at least temporarily. On the other hand, you know, after a bid, it could also signal the end of Hamas's efforts to continue to fight Israel. I think that might be the next step for Hamas once they regroup and figure out what their leadership actually looks like.

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KINKADE: I mean, how could Iran respond, do you think, given that this assassination happened in Iran, in Tehran?

LEIGHTON: Yes, this is going to be a real challenge for the new president. And in fact not only was Hamas leadership in Tehran, but Hezbollah leadership was also in Tehran for the inauguration of the new Iranian president. And the new Iranian president is now perceived to be a moderate in the West but the problem that he is now faced with is that this is a major challenge to Iran sovereignty, to Iran's ability to protect people who are visiting the Iranian government.

And with that said, I think it's going to be critical for the Iranians probably to figure out exactly which path they want to take. Will they continue on a possible path of moderation, which is something that may have been more of a campaign slogan for the new president, or is it going to be something where they harden their stance and go more with the hardliners even though the president is extensively a more moderate figure.

But the other rulers like the supreme leader in Iran, that person has always been a hardliner. Ayatollah Khamenei, and that is going to probably be the path that the Iranians takes. So what they do next militarily could involve more rocket attacks against Israel potentially like we saw a few months ago. It could potentially involve some terrorist attacks that are conducted against Israeli and potentially American targets.

So these are the kinds of things that we have to be prepared for where the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps may do something in conjunction with Hezbollah and Hamas. But in particular with Hamas. So that could in essence change the way some of these operations occur. And it could also have an impact on what's going on with the Houthis in Yemen. That of course remains to be seen, but this could potentially unleash quite a cauldron of events here in the Middle East.

KINKADE: And that is the big fear, right? This escalation. We know so far that Israel hasn't claimed responsibility for the assassination in Iran but it has taken responsibility for the death of Hezbollah's military commander, and the IDF did say we're not preparing for war, but we are prepared if needed.

I just want to play some sound from the IDF spokesperson earlier today after that strike in Beirut.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REAR ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESPERSON: Fu'ad Shukr was the right-hand man to Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's as leader, and his adviser in planning and directing attacks and operations. Fu'ad Shukr was the commander responsible for the Majdal Shams massacre in which 12th children were murdered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: So we've seen this tit-for-tat go on between Israel and Hezbollah for some time but given this attack happened in Beirut, in Lebanon's capital, will Hezbollah retaliate forcefully?

LEIGHTON: I think that's certainly a potential, Lynda. I think the fact of the matter is is that we're looking at a ladder of escalation once again, in that I think what could happen here is that Hezbollah especially now that they see what's happened to Hamas' political leader, they may decide that they have no choice but to do something against Israel. That could involve rocket attacks against northern Israel and of course that puts more political pressure on the Israeli government because they've tried to regain the territory in the north of Israel so that they can put to their people back there.

In other words, allow them to live then security in that area. A major political demand there. So when it comes to these kinds of efforts, I think that we can very well see Hezbollah forces making some statement and that could of course impact things as they go forward and it could just still draw Israel into a two-front war. It's kind of been like that over the last few months, but now the likelihood of that is certainly increased in my opinion.

KINKADE: Retired Colonel Cedric Leighton, good to have you on the program. Thanks so much.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Lynda. Any time.

KINKADE: Well, for more I want to bring in our correspondent, Paula Hancocks, who joins us live from the region in Abu Dhabi.

Good to have you with us, Paula. So this is certainly a huge day in the region. Hamas' political leader assassinated in Iran.

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This was a man who was leading a hostage ceasefire negotiations on behalf of Hamas. What more are you learning about that assassination?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lynda, it is extremely significant. The fact that Ismail Haniyeh has been assassinated and also the fact that it has happened in the heart of the Iranian capital in Tehran. Now we know from state-run media that this has happened. They have initially quoted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. We know that Haniyeh was in Tehran for the inauguration of the new Iranian president.

So he potentially would have been there on a semi-state visit. So very significant that this happened within that time frame and within that location. Now that inauguration happened Tuesday. We don't have the exact timing of when the assassination took place. It is Wednesday morning local time now.

We have heard from the Israeli side. We obviously asked them about this assassination. The IDF saying that they don't comment on reports in the foreign media. Now that's not an unsurprising response. It's a response that we have heard in the past as well when there have been these high-profile assassinations taking place on foreign soil. There are a few in the region, though, that doubt that Israel would have been behind this basically because Israel was very clear about the fact that it's had all of Hamas' leadership in its sights.

Since the October 7th Hamas attacks on Israel, Israel said that every political and military leader was considered a target. And we have seen a number of them being killed in recent months. Just recently, for example, the military number two, Mohammed Deif, Israel believes they killed in Gaza itself. They have been very clear that they are after the number one in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, who is still believed to be hiding in tunnels in Gaza itself.

But the fact that this is such a high figure is going to have potential repercussions. Ismail Haniyeh has been part of Hamas since the late '80s, since the first intifada is when he joined the group, and he really has been a key part of political leadership for decades, taking the top role back in 2017. Since that point, he has not spent much time in Gaza. He has been living outside of the Gaza Strip in Doha, Qatar.

He has been free to move to other countries in the region, for example, Tehran, Iran, and Turkey and this is going to be a blow to Hamas to know that Israel is able to reach all of their leadership no matter where they are. So a very significant event that has happened at this point. We do have some response from Hamas itself, one Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, saying, quote, "We are engaged in an open war to liberate Jerusalem, and we are ready to pay various prices." So certainly there will be much anger within Hamas itself. And of

course the question is, what kind of response will follow this -- Lynda.

KINKADE: All right. Paula Hancocks for us, joining us from Abu Dhabi. Good to have you on this story. We will come back to you again soon. Thank you.

Well, I want to bring in Matthew Levitt, a Fromer-Wexler senior fellow and director of the Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy joins us now live.

Good to have you with us.

MATTHEW LEVITT, FROMER-WEXLER SENIOR FELLOW, WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: Glad to be here.

KINKADE: You have been a counterterrorism intelligence analyst. You also served as a member of the International Advisory Board for the Institute for Counterterrorism in Israel, and of course you've written extensively about Arab-Israeli peace negotiations. Give us your reaction of the fact that today we've got two senior leaders, Hezbollah's military commander and Hamas' leader, both killed.

LEVITT: I think the Israelis are going to great ends to make clear that it's no longer going to be safe for the leaders of terrorist groups to walk around freely in countries that provides them safe haven while they're promoting the killing of innocents, and you know, for the past nine months, the Israelis have made it clear that the Hamas leaders responsible for October 7th were the walking dead. Ismail Haniyeh's death in Tehran is a very strong message.

He could go at any place that he thought he would've been safe, this was it coming on the heels of the assassination of Fu'ad Shukr who'd been in the business of trying to kill Israelis for 35 years. Today is a very bad day for the Islamic resistance and its axis.

KINKADE: It's interesting that Israel hasn't claimed responsibility or commented really on the assassination in Iran.

[00:15:08]

But it did claim responsibility for that drone attack in Lebanon, which of course killed Hezbollah's most senior military commander.

You host a podcast series called "Breaking Hezbollah's Golden Rule." You've been following this group for decades. What impact will this have on the terror group?

LEVITT: Look, Hezbollah is a very capable paramilitary organization. It does not have a single point of failure. Even the assassination of someone as senior and important as Fu'ad Shukr doesn't mean that they won't be able to carry out land maneuvers and launch rockets and drones as they have. That said this assassination comes on the heels of some 400 other Hezbollah operatives who've been killed in the next nine months.

That includes several senior regional commanders. If you take 401 pinpricks, (INAUDIBLE), you'll make a pretty big O. This is like a sweater that has the string and killing Fu'ad Shukr is pulling at that string and taken together, I think this is going to have an effect on the organizational blow separate from the message that it sends, that Israel is going to hold accountable those that are carrying out attacks against its civilians.

KINKADE: In terms of that strike in Beirut, the U.N. of course is calling a blow to Israel and Lebanon to try to find a diplomatic avenue. But what is the likelihood we will see an escalation, especially now that you've got this assassination in Iran?

LEVITT: I think the assassination in Iran is relevant, but only so much so. This latest strike in Lebanon was targeting the man who's believed to have been ultimately responsible for the rocket strike in Majda Shams, in the Israeli-controlled part of the Golan Heights that killed 12 children and young adults. Hezbollah is definitely going to want to respond for the assassination of someone as significant as Fu'ad Shukr but I don't think that Hezbollah or for that matter Israel really want to escalate to full scale war.

And I would anticipate that Hezbollah will do something so that it can say it did something and then go try and go back to the shooting daily, small stuff across the border. That won't stop until there's some type of a deal over prisoners and hostages and an end to the fight in Gaza. And that's up to not Ismail Haniyeh, the late Ismail Haniyeh, but rather Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza. He's the only one making that decision.

KINKADE: Ismail Haniyeh was, of course, a former Palestinian authority prime minister. He has very or he had very close ties with Iran's leadership. I mean, we just saw earlier today he was sitting down with Iran's supreme leader. Given that he was involved in these hostage release and ceasefire talks, is that likely all dead in the water, those talks?

LEVITT: I don't think they're dead in the water because there are forces that are pushing Yahya Sinwar and Hamas in Gaza and Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Israelis to want to bring this to a close. I think it's going to complicate them. I am worried about the safety of those remaining hostages who are alive. Hamas is going to want to do something. You can have individual Hamas members who get very angry and take matters into their own hands.

I would not expect a deal tomorrow or the next day, but I don't think that this alone is going to torpedo what ultimately both Yahya Sinwar, ironically, and Bibi Netanyahu want with some sort of a deal.

KINKADE: All right. Matthew Levitt, good to get your perspective and analysis. We appreciate your time. Thank you.

LEVITT: Thank you.

KINKADE: Well, new video obtained by CNN shows the moment of Saturday's deadly attack in the occupied Golan Heights, which Israel has blamed on Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and a warning, these images are disturbing.

(VIDEO)

KINKADE: You can see a rocket hitting a football pitch where children were playing. They can be heard screaming and running for cover. A girl holding the phone appears to fall to the ground before quickly picking herself up.

Well, 12 children were killed and more than 40 people injured in that attack. Israel blamed Hezbollah for that strike but the militant group has denied responsibility.

Well, protesters returned to the streets of Venezuela to voice their anger over the country's disputed election results that show that Nicolas Maduro is headed as a third term president. We'll have the latest when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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KINKADE: Well, more now on our breaking news. Iranian state media says an investigation is underway following the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh. He was reportedly killed in Tehran after attending this swearing in ceremony of Iran's new president. Hamas says, Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli raid on his residence. One Hamas official calls it an assassination and a cowardly act, and says Haniyeh's killing quote, "will not pass in vain."

Well, Venezuela is heading into a third day of political uncertainty as the presidential election results remain in dispute. Protesters filled the streets of Caracas Tuesday demanding President Nicolas Maduro release the tallies of Sunday's vote and acknowledge his defeated at the ballot box. A local NGO says at least 11 people have been killed during those nationwide protests. Maduro is rallying his supporters while he accuses the opposition of being criminals.

Journalist Steffano Pozzebon has the latest from Caracas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: The streets of Caracas are calm as of Tuesday night, but just a presence of military police at the bottom of these avenue can tell you how intense the clashes have been today as well between military and police forces here in Venezuela, and some opposition protesters who are demanding the electoral authority to release all the data, all the tallies related to the presidential election on Sunday that according to electoral authorities proclaimed Nicolas Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela.

That claim has been disputed by the opposition who have telling us that they have collected about 80 percent of ballot data and that they believe to have the data, to have the numbers to proclaim their candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, as the precedent. And today, at a march by the opposition, we were able to ask to some of these people why they took to the streets today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm here because I believe in freedom. I believe that what happened on Sunday is that all the Venezuelan people we are tired of this dictatory and we want to be free. Our country, our country, we want it to be free.

POZZEBON: Now many countries around Latin America and around the rest of the world have been urging the electoral authorities to release all the data, all the tallies of ballot centers related to that election on Sunday. One of those have been the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva telling local media in Brazil on Tuesday that he believes the only way out of this crisis in Venezuela is the publication of these tallies.

That is a line that he's confirmed by other countries here in Latin America, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and the United States have all urged Nicolas Maduro to release that data.

[00:25:09]

And we can confirm that at least in a private meeting with a personal envoy of Lula Da Silva, Maduro accepted and plan to release that data now. Whether he will do it and when he would do it is now everyone's question here in Caracas.

For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Caracas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: We're live now to Will Freeman who is a fellow for Latin American Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and also a political scientist. He joins us from Letitia, Colombia.

Good to have you with us. So allies of Venezuela, both the U.S. and Brazil, are calling for the release of detailed voting data. Is that information typically published after an election in Venezuela?

WILL FREEMAN, FELLOW FOR LATIN AMERICA STUDIES, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Yes, it should be. It could be. There's no reason to withhold it in this case and I think that more time goes on the fact that the Consejo National Electoral, the National Electoral Council, isn't willing to make this public, it's raising questions for almost everyone. I mean, where did they get these numbers from? How are they claiming that Maduro won by almost 10 points?

KINKADE: And how closely are they aligned with the government?

FREEMAN: The National Electoral Council, it's fairly closely aligned. There's a majority of pro-government, regime members in that council. So no one really thought it would be independent. But I don't think -- you know, it wasn't a guarantee that the National Electoral Council would go along with such brazen and broad just like people were seeing now.

KINKADE: And obviously we've seen these protests on the streets of Venezuela. Protesters who believe that this election was stolen. The opposition leader has of course asked for her supporters to remain peaceful but we are hearing from some government leaders who are suggesting that the opposition's most influential leader and presidential candidate should be arrested. If that were to happen, what would that mean for the fragile democracy?

FREEMAN: I don't think we're talking about a fragile democracy. This is an authoritarian regime. I mean it has been for going on 10 years now. There have been, you know, this is an authoritarian regime that holds the barely competitive elections. But I think what we're seeing now is a churn towards a much more outright, fully closed type of authoritarianism in which there'll be really very, very little space for opposition.

I think what's decisive in the days ahead is whether or not the security forces in Venezuela obey what I expect the orders to crack down massively on these protests. Now we're already seeing crackdown. Tragically 13 people among the protesters have been killed. 95 people detained in just two days that we know of. And the numbers could be higher. Something like half of all the protesters.

You've had armed gang Colectivos tied to the government repressing those protests. So I think that what will really matter next is just the army move in, the police move in, in a massive way. I'm trying to hold out hope that they still might disobeyed orders to do so, given the scale, the size of these protests, the fact that we just represents such a broad cross-section of Venezuelan society.

I think we can hope that maybe the soldiers, the police will refrain, but I mean, this is -- you know, it's a long shot. Their leadership has already spoken today. The defense minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez made a statement that seems to suggest he's firmly behind Maduro. So I think it'll be hard for the security forces to do anything.

KINKADE: I mean, Venezuela was once one of Latin Americas fastest- growing economies. It of course has the world's largest crude oil reserves but it has struggled in recent years, and they work questions raised at the last election, too, right?

FREEMAN: A little struggle, as you know, is a bit of an understatement maybe. This is the biggest economic disaster outside of -- outside of an war zone in the world and, you know, cost eight million people about one in five of the original population to flee the country, so it's been, you know, cataclysmic that really corresponds to the fact that, you know, Venezuela is an oil dependent economy, oil prices start dropping in the 2000s.

You add also the Maduro government really run the entire industry into the rocks, you know, putting military guys in charge of running the oil industry made absolutely no sense. You ended up in a situation where the economy is just deeply dysfunctional. That's still the case today. So I think, you know, many people were hoping that an opposition victory can help get Venezuela back on its feet economically.

I really don't see that happening with Maduro's third term and I especially don't see it happening when he seems to be banking on now, making himself a pariah and really paying that price to stay in power.

KINKADE: Yes. It's pretty sad and shocking to say.

Will Freeman, appreciate your time and analysis. Thanks so much.

FREEMAN: Thank you. I appreciate it.

KINKADE: Well, more on our breaking news in just a moment.

[00:30:00]

Iranian media reporting the political leaders of Hamas has been assassinated in Tehran. We have more on that, as well as the death of Hezbollah's military commander.

Stay with us. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KINKADE: Hello, I'm Lynda Kinkade. We are following breaking news from Iran. State media there reporting that Hamas' political leader Ismail Haniyeh has been assassinated. Hamas issued a statement saying Haniyeh was killed in what it called a Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran. On Tuesday, he had attended the inauguration of Iran's new president.

The 62 year old was born in a refugee camp near Gaza city and joined Hamas in the 1980s. He then became chief of the group in 2017 and was named a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the U.S. soon after. When asked for comment, the Israeli military said it does not respond to reports in the foreign media.

Shlomi Eldar is an Israeli journalist and filmmaker. He joins us now live from Tel Aviv. Appreciate you joining us this morning. So, Hamas' leader assassinated in Iran. This is news that people in Israel are waking up to right now. It's just after 07:30 a.m. there. What's been the reaction so far?

SHLOMI ELDAR, JOURNALIST AND FILMMAKER: I think we were surprised. We didn't think that Israel will attack in Tehran, absolutely not assassinating Ismail Haniyeh. I met Ismail Haniyeh in 1994, my first meeting with him. Ismail Haniyeh, I think, he has been changed. And here's the story what happened to Hamas movement. He was one of the moderate leaders of Hamas, and he has been changed, especially after the military coup in 2007.

I think that now when we are taking Hamas leader, we shaped it and designated that after October 7th, all Hamas leaders are war crimes -- are war criminals. What they've been doing, what they have been done. This is, I think Israel must act against the Hamas leader.

But I think that today when I heard that Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated, it let me think that we've been left with the extremist leaders of Hamas, like Yahya Sinwar and all other military group. But again, when Israel decided to assassinate Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, this is a message, a message to all Hamas leaders, no more, no more attacking Israelis, no more taking hostages, and no more murders, killing civilians in Israel.

[00:35:00]

KINKADE: And speaking of hostages, there are believed to be at least 80 Israeli hostages in Gaza who have not been pronounced dead. Has there been any reaction from any family members of those hostages, what this could mean for them, what this could mean for any hostage negotiations and how Hamas might react in Gaza?

ELDAR: Yes, I think it's -- today it's bad news for the family of the hostages. Ismail Haniyeh, as I said before, he was one of the moderate leader of Hamas. And now I don't think that the deal will continue and the talk will continue in Doha. I think that Hamas also were surprised while Israel assassinate the political leader.

As actually, from the title, he is the top leader of Hamas. But actually, who is deciding all the reaction and all the political direction of Hamas is Yahya Sinwar. Yahya Sinwar, he changed Hamas after he was released from the Israeli prison in 2011 after Gilad Shalit exchange deals. But today we've been left with the extremists of Yahya Sinwar, one of his leaders in Gaza, Rawhi Mushtaha.

And I think it's not good news for the hostages. But again, I think it's our duty and we've been promised by the Israeli leaders to eliminate Hamas movement. I'm not sure that we could eliminate all of them, but it's a direct message to Hamas, no more.

KINKADE: We know, Shlomi, that Iran says it's carrying out an investigation into this assassination. We also know that Israel says it's not commenting on this report from a foreign country. It hasn't confirmed that it carried out this assassination. If it wasn't Israel, who was it?

ELDAR: No, I think it's Israel. But I think that now, because it was -- the assassination was in Tehran, I don't see any other who could make this assassination in Tehran, inside Tehran. I think that at the beginning of the war, after October 7, Israel said directly that we try to eliminate all -- we'll try to eliminate all the Hamas leaders. And I think that Israel assassinates Ismail Haniyeh, but still we have to confirm it.

KINKADE: And are there fears in Israel about any potential response from Iran?

ELDAR: I'm not sure that Iran will respond. I don't think also that Hamas will respond. Hamas was defeated in Gaza. I think it's -- I'm not saying that this is the end of Hamas movement, but they are weak. I don't think that they have the tools or the ability to respond. And I'm not sure that Iran will respond. Otherwise, it will take us to another game -- different game between Iran and Israel.

Shlomi Eldar, Israeli journalists, we appreciate your time. Thanks so much for joining us.

ELDAR: Thank you very much. We are going to take a short break. We'll have more on our breaking news in just a moment. Iranian media reporting that the political leader of Hamas has been assassinated in Tehran.

Stay with us. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:40:00]

KINKADE: Welcome back. I'm Lynda Kinkade. I want to get you up to date on our breaking news. Hamas says the assassination of its political leader will not pass in vain. Iranian state media report that Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran after he attended the inauguration of the country's new president.

Israel says it does not respond to reports in the foreign media. Haniyeh's death is sure to complicate Gaza ceasefire and hostage negotiations as he was heavily involved in those talks with Egypt and Qatar.

Joining me for more is CNN's Jeremy Diamond in Haifa, Israel. Jeremy, this is a man who was a former leader of the Palestinian Authority. He has been assassinated in Iran. How are the Palestinians responding?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is an outpouring of support for Ismail Haniyeh in the wake of his death, apparently by a targeted assassination by Israel in Iran.

The Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, saying that he strongly condemns the assassination of the head of the Hamas movement, the great leader Ismail Haniyeh, and saying that he considers it a, quote, "cowardly act and a dangerous development." The statement goes on to say his Excellency called on the masses and forces of our people to unite, be patient and steadfast in the face of the Israeli occupation.

And, you know, it bears repeating that, of course, Hamas and Fatah, which is Mahmoud Abbas' party do not have a warm history together. But obviously, in this moment, in the moment of Ismail Haniyeh's death, a leader of Hamas, a leader who was very popular, we should note, among many Palestinians in Gaza and certainly some Palestinians in the West Bank as well, you have Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority coming out and praising him in the wake of his death.

You know, we don't yet know exactly how this is going to impact the ceasefire negotiations, how this is going to be received widely in the Arab world, but we certainly do know that Ismail Haniyeh when his children were killed in an Israeli strike back in April. He had said at the time that that would not affect ceasefire negotiations.

This is a very different situation. Of course, Ismail Haniyeh has been involved in the details of these ceasefire negotiations for months now, and we know that earlier this week, Israel finally delivered its response to those ongoing negotiations. Hamas, in response to that document from Israel, said that they believed that Israel was once again beginning to drag its feet, adding 11th hour obstacles to these negotiations. Israel denied those charges, of course. But we now know that Yahya Sinwar, who is Hamas' leader in Gaza, who has had considerable sway over these ongoing negotiations, he is going to have a stepped up state of influence in these talks. He already has played a big part, but there's no question that his voice will resound even louder going forward.

KINKADE: Yeah. And I have to wonder whether you've heard any reaction, Jeremy, from any of the families of the hostages, given that Ismail Haniyeh was part of the hostage negotiations and quite a vital part of those negotiations on behalf of Hamas.

I have not seen any reaction so far. But again, they are going to be asking the very same questions that we are right now, which is, to what extent is this going to affect things at the negotiating table? Is this going to harden positions at the negotiating table?

[00:45:00]

There has been some reporting in the past that there was somewhat of a schism between Hamas external leadership, its leadership abroad, like Ismail Haniyeh, who was based in Qatar, and Yahya Sinwar, who is based in Gaza, with some indications being that Sinwar was being far more hardline in these negotiations, far more intransigent in his positions regarding a potential ceasefire, and that Haniyeh was perhaps more willing to make concessions, more willing to craft a deal. And so obviously, that could have tremendous implications for these negotiations going forward.

But I also think that beyond the negotiations themselves, which again, there was no indication that there was a deal on the verge of being reached here, given Hamas' latest statement to that Israeli response earlier this week, I think the bigger question right now is that of the regional tensions. I mean, this puts Iran in a very, very delicate position with two senior leaders of two of its separate proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas, now having been killed in Israeli strikes over the course of just the last 24 hours.

And a moment when this region was already teetering on the edge of a regional war. These are very, very significant developments, very potentially dangerous escalations, and it is going to be something to watch over the next 24 hours over the course of the next week to see how Iran reacts to this, how its proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah, react to this and what that brings for the region.

KINKADE: And I have to wonder what else we are expected to hear from the international community after Israel carried out that drone strike in Beirut. We did hear from the U.S. and the UN calling for diplomatic avenues to be pursued. Surely, like the international community must be on edge right now.

DIAMOND: No doubt about it. I mean, this is a moment of extraordinary, extraordinary tension in this region. I mean, it already was the case before we learned of this apparent assassination of Ismail Haniyeh by Israel on Iranian soil. And so now this adds a whole other layer of complication, a whole other layer of uncertainty and of potential danger to a region that was already on edge. We know, as it relates to Hezbollah, the United States had been urging Israel to -- even as it recognized that it would need to carry out some kind of response for that rocket attack in the Israel occupied Golan Heights, which killed 12 children. The United States and other western allies were still urging Israel to carry out a measured response.

And certainly the step that Israel took yesterday, taking out a senior Hezbollah commander who was a senior advisor as well to Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, it was certainly a very significant step. I think there was also a sense that Israel could have perhaps gone further in the direction of escalation and that it chose not to.

And at the same time, Israel was also messaging publicly and privately that it did not want to see that regional war that many have feared. But this adds a new, very dangerous layer of complication, one that Hamas itself will no doubt want to respond to militarily. Whether those actions take place against Israeli soldiers in Gaza or against Israeli towns and cities is another question altogether.

But make no doubt that there will be a response, and we will have to see to what extent that could potentially push this region further down the path of additional escalation.

KINKADE: Yeah. I mean, certainly, as we heard earlier, Israel not looking for war, but certainly prepared for it. Our Jerusalem Correspondent Jeremy Diamond, good to have you there for us. Thanks so much.

We are going to take a short break now. We'll be back with much more on our breaking news in just a moment. Stay with us. You're watching CNN.

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KINKADE: Welcome back. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Here is the latest on the breaking news. The Israeli military refusing to respond to reports of the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh. Iranian state media say Haniyeh was killed in Tehran after he attended the inauguration of the country's new president. The 62 year old was born in a refugee camp near Gaza city. He joined Hamas in the 1980s, and he soon became chief of the group. By 2017, he was named a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the U.S.

I want to bring in CNN's Paula Hancocks, who joins us live from Abu Dhabi. Certainly, a huge day in the region. Just give us a sense of what you're learning about this assassination of Hamas' political leader?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lynda, it is certainly a very significant day, not least because of who Ismail Haniyeh is himself. He is really a very visible, a very vocal part of Hamas and has been part of the political leadership for decades now. As you say, he did join the group back in the 80s during the first intifada. He spent some time in prison as well and was sent to Southern Lebanon by Israel after the prison terms.

But he did come back to Gaza, and it was really in the late 90s that his political leadership took shape. He became the personal assistant, if you like, to the finder of Hamas, to the spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Now, he also survived a previous assassination attempt by Israel while he was with Sheikh Yassin that was back in 2003. Both were slightly injured in that attack. Sheikh Yassin was then assassinated several months later.

But he has been a very key part of this movement for many decades. He became the prime minister at one point to the Palestinian Authority when Hamas won legislative elections in 2006. But then when Gaza took, when --excuse me, Hamas took over Gaza in 2007, he then became the de facto leader within the Gaza Strip itself.

In 2017, he became the political leader. And really since that time, did not spend a lot of time within Gaza itself. We've seen him, he was living in Doha, Qatar. He was really free to move around the region to some extent. He had been traveling a lot to Tehran, to Turkey, for example. And so he really had been a very visible and vocal part of this group.

And, of course, the key point is that he was really an indirect interlocutor with Israel when it comes to these hostage deal talks, when it comes to the ceasefire talks. But he is a very significant figure within the Hamas movement itself, Lynda.

KINKADE: Yeah, as you point out, he was negotiating for the release of the hostages and a potential ceasefire. Who was likely to fill his shoes? Who's likely to take over in that role as leader of Hamas?

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HANCOCKS: Well, it's interesting because one person, Saleh al-Arouri, who was really considered in some ways a number two to him, was assassinated earlier this year by Israel in Beirut. So he is not the only member of the political leadership to have been taken out by Israel. Israel made it very clear after the October 7 attacks that all of the leadership of Hamas was a target and that they would be going after all of them.

So well, there will, of course, be someone who can take the place of Ismail Haniyeh, it may not be immediate because some of those below him have already been assassinated. We understand, of course, that in Gaza itself, the number one is Yahya Sinwar. This is someone who Israel believes is still hiding in the tunnels of Gaza, and he is also a target. Lynda.

KINKADE: All right, Paula Hancocks for us in Abu Dhabi. Thanks so much for staying across all of that. We will come back to you shortly. That was CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Lynda Kincaid. We will be back with much more on our breaking news in just a moment.

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