MOSCOW, August 9. /TASS/. The assassination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month may have an impact on negotiations with Israel regarding the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Friday.

"I believe that it will have an impact on further negotiations regarding the release of hostages," Bogdanov told journalists in response to a question about Hanieyh’s association.

The diplomat pointed out that Haniyeh "oversaw the Cairo and Doha negotiations."

The situation in the Middle East deteriorated sharply after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the chief of the political bureau of the Palestinian radical movement Hamas, in Tehran, and Fuad Shukr, a commander of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, in Beirut.

Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah blamed the attacks on Israel as they threatened it with retaliation. The Jewish state never commented on Haniyeh’s killing, while it claimed that the attack on Shukr was in response to the strike on the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Israel-controlled Golan Heights which killed 12 people. However, Hezbollah denied involvement in the attack.

Tensions flared up in the Middle East after Hamas militants attacked Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, killing residents of border settlements and taking over 240 hostages. In response, Israel launched a military operation in Gaza to eradicate Hamas’ military and political structure and to release all the hostages.

In late November 2023, a temporary one-week humanitarian truce was brokered by Egypt and Qatar. According to Israel, 110 hostages were released then. On December 1, the ceasefire was broken by radicals and combat operations resumed and are still going on.