Man on the inside?: Details of Haniyeh assassination in Tehran revealed

At the last minute the plan nearly fell apart; the air-conditioning in Haniyeh's room broke down, and he had to leave the room.

By MATHILDA HELLER DECEMBER 29, 2024 15:38 Updated: DECEMBER 29, 2024 15:47

Palestinian group Hamas' top leader Ismail Haniyeh (grayed out) in Tehran, Iran (photo credit: MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY) VIA REUTERS)

The assassination of Hamas's political bureau leader, Ismail Haniyeh, required meticulous planning and a collaborator on the inside and was nearly derailed by a broken air conditioner, an exclusive Saturday N12 report revealed.

Haniyeh was staying in the Neshat compound in the Saadat Abad neighborhood of Tehran when he was killed on July 31, 2024. The complex houses high-level Iranian officials and IRGC members and is protected by some of the most advanced security systems in the world, the report said.

"The Haniyeh assassination was at an even higher level than the pager operation. We penetrated the inside and outside of the most guarded Iranian facility," Iran expert Beni Sabti of the Institute for National Security Studies told N12.

Choosing the location

Haniyeh, who lived in Doha, Qatar, used to travel to three major cities: Istanbul, Moscow, and Tehran.

Journalist Dr Ronen Bergman, an expert on Israel's targeted assassinations, explained that he could not be assassinated in Qatar as this would have harmed the hostage mediation efforts. 

On top of this, "Erdogan's anger [at an assassination in Istanbul] would have led to very serious consequences, and Moscow - let's say Putin would not have been very happy," said Bergman. "This left Tehran."

The Neshat compound where Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran (credit: according to Article 27 A of the Copyright Law)

Israel's operatives identified a pattern in Haniyeh's travels to the Neshat compound in the Iranian capital.

"He stayed there seven, eight, nine times," said Bergman.

"That allowed those who were planning to take his life to begin to establish the two things that are needed to kill someone: one, that he came there often, and two, that he was in a fixed location, in one particular room."

Breaking through IRGC security

The elite Ansar al-Mahdi unit of the IRGC was in charge of guarding Haniyeh. "These guards are selected after a great many tests and security investigations," explained Sabti. 

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"They are rigorously tested to ensure that they are not in contact with foreign or enemy parties, and they are highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat and weapons. For them, a senior member of a terrorist organization is equal in importance to the president of Iran."

Planting the bomb

The operation to assassinate Haniyeh was planned meticulously.

A bomb was planted in a pillow in Haniyeh's room in advance. However, the bomb was slightly bigger than planned "because there was no bomb of the appropriate size available," Bergman revealed.

The plan also nearly fell apart at the last minute as the air-conditioning in Haniyeh's room broke down, and he had to leave.

"The operation was walking a tightrope," a source told N12.

"There was a fear that his room would be replaced with another. However, they managed to fix the air conditioner, and he returned to the room."

At 1:30 a.m., there was a huge explosion in the compound.

"After about a minute, the medical team declares him dead, and then [now-Hamas leader] Khalil al-Hayya enters and sees his colleague lying dead and bleeding on the ground, and he himself falls to his knees and bursts into tears," said Bergman. "It's a dramatic moment."

Shock waves in Iran

The precision and success of the operation reportedly sowed panic in the Iranian leadership, and the commander of the Quds Force, Ismail Qaani, disappeared for three weeks.

To this day, the question of who assisted the Mossad in the complex operation remains. 

"Who could have done it? There are three groups," explains Ronen Bergman. "Iranian citizens who live in the area, members of the Revolutionary Guards, and Hamas members. It is likely that the Iranians are looking, and Hamas is also looking, in all these different groups." 

"[Using a spy of our own, like] Eli Cohen, the Israeli agent in Damascus, is less workable [for this kind of operation]," added Bergman. "In the end, there was a bomb in the room. Someone put it in, someone hid it. They will certainly try to unravel this thing."

An operation of this magnitude could not have been carried out without significant help from within Iran, said Tamir Heyman, former head of the Military Intelligence Directorate.

"This requires a whole network of execution capabilities," emphasized Heyman. 

"It probably involves some people who betrayed their country or betrayed their mission and cooperated to allow this to happen."