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Hamas begins consultations to choose Ismail Haniyeh’s successor

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Hamas begins consultations to choose Ismail Haniyeh’s successor

Movement that runs the Gaza Strip says its senior officials have started broad consultations ‘to choose a new chief’.

Hamas says it has initiated consultations to select a new leader of the Palestinian group after the assassination of its political chief Ismail Haniyeh.

“Following the martyrdom of our leader, the leaders of the movement have started a broad consultation process within its hierarchy and advisory institutions to choose a new chief,” Hamas said in a statement published on its social media accounts on Sunday.

The statement said Haniyeh’s killing “would only make the Hamas and the Palestinian resistance stronger and more determined to continue his path and approach”.

The group said the results of consultations will be announced as soon as they are completed.

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Haniyeh was assassinated in the Iranian capital, Tehran, early on Wednesday in an attack the Iranian officials blame on Israel. His bodyguard was also killed.

Iran and groups aligned with it in the Middle East have promised to avenge Haniyeh’s killing. Israel – accused by Hamas, Iran and others of carrying out the attack – has not directly commented on the killing.

Haniyeh was in Tehran to attend the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

After a funeral in Tehran, where prayers were led by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Thursday, Haniyeh’s remains were flown to Doha for burial.

The Hamas leader was based in the Qatari capital, where negotiations with Israel and other stakeholders, including Egypt and the United States, over a possible ceasefire in Gaza have been held on and off since the war started in October.

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Regional escalation fears

As Iran and its allies prepare their response to Haniyeh’s assassination, tensions are soaring in the Middle East over fears of a regional war.

Israel’s main ally, the US, said it would move more warships and fighter jets to the region while several Western governments, including the US and the United Kingdom, have called on their citizens to immediately leave Lebanon, where Hamas’s ally, Hezbollah, is based.

Haniyeh’s killing in Tehran had come only hours after the Israeli assassination of Hezbollah’s military chief in Beirut, triggering promises of revenge from Iran and the “axis of resistance”, which are armed groups in the Middle East supported by Iran.

Iran on Saturday said it expects Hezbollah to hit deeper inside Israel and no longer be confined to military targets.

When US President Joe Biden was asked by reporters on Saturday if he thought Iran would stand down after the Tehran attack, he said: “I hope so. I don’t know.”

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Meanwhile, Israel’s army early on Sunday said about 30 rockets were launched from southern Lebanon into Israel, adding that most of them were shot down and no injuries were reported.

The barrage of rockets was fired after Israeli air strikes targeted several areas in southern Lebanon overnight, Lebanese media reported.

Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been trading fire since the day after the Gaza war began on October 7. It has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians so far and displaced almost the entire population of the besieged enclave amid widespread starvation and health emergencies.

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Investors brace for a bigger backlash from Middle East war

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Investors brace for a bigger backlash from Middle East war
From being just a fringe risk, conflict in the Middle East has become a top worry for investors unsettled by the prospect of a power struggle in Iran and a protracted regional war, with ramifications for everything from global trade to inflation.
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Tel Aviv analyst shelters from 30 missile sirens in 48 hours, says Iran ‘won’t recover’

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Tel Aviv analyst shelters from 30 missile sirens in 48 hours, says Iran ‘won’t recover’

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The past 48 hours in Tel Aviv have been unlike anything seen before, a leading security analyst has said, as sirens blared amid missile threats following Operation Epic Fury and U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran.

“We are facing a biblical event — nothing less,” Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies and the Misgav Institute, told Fox News Digital, speaking from his shelter in the city.

Like many Israelis, Michael said he had spent hours in reinforced rooms during the ongoing barrage, adding that he was “very experienced in this.”

“But this all requires time and determination, and I do hope that Trump will also have them both,” he said, speaking shortly after the president released a video message stating that the military operation would continue “until all of our objectives are achieved.”

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Explosions from projectile interceptions by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system over Tel Aviv. (JACK GUEZ / AFP via Getty Images)

“Trump is the only one who can make the change — and that change will impact the entire region and the international order for years to come,” Michael added.

As of Sunday, Tel Aviv remained under a state of emergency following Iranian missile attacks that caused casualties and widespread damage.

According to The Associated Press, Iranian missile and drone strikes have killed approximately 11 Israeli civilians and wounded dozens more in retaliation for the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran.

Shrapnel from missile impacts damaged at least 40 buildings in Tel Aviv, and authorities reported at least one death in the area from falling debris.

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The Philippine Embassy in Israel confirmed the death of a Filipino national after a missile strike hit Tel Aviv on Saturday.

TOMAHAWKS, B-2 STEALTH BOMBERS AND ATTACK DRONES POUND OVER 1,000 IRANIAN TARGETS IN 24-HOUR BLITZ

People take shelter as Iran launched missiles and drones towards Israel following the US-Israeli attacks. ( Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“We enter our shelter once the siren is heard and stay there until the Home Front Command announces that we can leave,” Michael said.

“Usually, it is about 20 to 30 minutes — unless there are further sirens during our stay. Since yesterday morning, it has happened around 30 times.”

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Israel’s President Isaac Herzog also visited an impact site in Tel Aviv Sunday, delivering a message of resilience.

“The people of Israel and the people of Iran can live in peace. The region can live in peace. But what undermines peace time and again is terror instigated by this Iranian regime,” Herzog said.

EXILED IRANIAN CROWN PRINCE SAYS US STRIKES MARK ‘BEGINNING OF THE VERY END’ FOR REGIME

Israeli emergency service officer walks past building debris at the scene of a Iranian missile attack. (Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP via Getty Images)

Following the reported killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and roughly 40 senior Iranian officials, Iran formed a provisional leadership council.

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Iran named Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, President Masoud Pezeshkian and Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i to lead roles.

“The Supreme Leader did not complete the necessary groundwork regarding his own succession,” Michael added.

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“Pezeshkian will face very troubling challenges due to their heavy losses, severe disruptions to control and command systems, and the massive bombing and attacks across Iran, including Tehran,” he said.

“Even if this regime doesn’t collapse, it will never be able to reconstitute itself, recover or return to its previous position,” Michael added.

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Israel FM says Europe too divided, slams Spanish PM

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Israel FM says Europe too divided, slams Spanish PM

Israeli minister Gideon Sa’ar said Europe “does not have unified position” on what role it should play in Iran as European ministers sought to establish a joint approach Sunday.

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As Israel and the United States conducted a joint military strike on Iran, leading to the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Europe was kept on the sidelines.

EU member states did not participate in the operation and, in some cases, they were not informed prior as it is customary among strategic allies.

Asked whether Israel sought to keep Europe on the margins, Sa’ar said internal divisions within EU member states had kept them out of critical exchanges of operational details, unlike the United States, which the minister described as his country’s greatest ally.

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“In Europe, you have all kinds of approaches,” he told Euronews. “You have countries like the Czech Republic which is strongly supporting this operation and then you have Spain, which is standing with all the tyrants of the world.”

On Saturday, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez was among the most critical voices in Europe, suggesting the US-Israeli strikes on Iran risk plunging the region into total war.

“We reject the unilateral military action of the United States and Israel, which represents an escalation and contributes to a more uncertain and hostile international order,” Sánchez said Saturday. The Spanish PM reiterated that message on Sunday.

“We urge for de-escalation and call to respect international law in all conflicts,” Sánchez added. “You can be against a heinous regime, like the Iranian regime, while also rejecting a military intervention that is unjustified, dangerous and outside of international law.”

Sa’aar said Israel considers the operation “fully justified” citing the right to self-defense from a regime that “has called for the destruction of Israel” and lashed at the Spanish prime minister for sending an “anti-Israeli, anti-American message.”

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“Read the statement, they are standing with Iran!” he added.

When asked if any of his European counterparts had manifested an interest in joining the military operation or provide support on the ground, Sa’ar said he held multiple exchanges with European ministers over the weekend and suggested that “if others want to join, they will know have to convey the message.”

On Sunday, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen appeared to back regime change in Iran in line with Israel and the US, saying that the “risk of further escalation is real. This is why a credible transition in Iran is urgently needed” in comments on Sunday.

Sa’ar told Euronews said the strategic strikes and the elimination of Khamenei alongside top regime commanders could “create the conditions to weaken the regime enough to allow the Iranians to take their future into their own hands”.

“The future leadership of Iran should be determined by the Iranian people through free elections. Our only requirement is that whoever comes to power in Iran must not pursue the destruction of Israel,” he said.

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Watch the full interview on Euronews from 8pm CET

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