CAIRO, July 31. /TASS/. The assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of the Palestinian movement Hamas, is a terrorist act and a violation of Iran’s sovereignty, the movement said in a statement.

"The assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is absolutely a terrorist act, a violation of Iran's sovereignty, a dangerous escalation of tensions and an expansion of [Israel's] crimes and aggression against the Palestinian people," the statement posted on the Hamas’ Telegram channel said.

According to the movement, Israel "and its allies bear full responsibility for the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, as well as its consequences." Hamas pointed out that stepping up resistance against Israeli forces "is the only way to give the Palestinian people what they want, full liberation from occupation and the establishment of their own independent state."

Earlier, Hamas' military wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, said the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was "a dangerous crime that brings the struggle [with Israeli forces] to a new level and will have serious consequences for the entire region."

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (elite units of the armed forces) said Wednesday morning that Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of the Palestinian movement Hamas, had been assassinated. Hamas said he was killed in an Israeli strike on his place of stay in Tehran, where he had arrived for the inauguration of the country's president-elect, Masoud Pezeshkian.