EU rejects extrajudicial executions after assassination of Hamas leader and calls to avoid further escalation

BRUSSELS, Jul 31 () –

The European Union on Wednesday reiterated its opposition to extrajudicial executions following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, saying the parties in the Middle East must avoid a new escalation of the war in Gaza.

“We are closely following reports of the assassination of Hamas’ political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, last night in Tehran. The EU maintains a principled position of rejecting extrajudicial executions and supporting the rule of law, including in international criminal justice,” the bloc’s foreign affairs spokesman, Peter Stano, told Europa Press.

Hamas announced the assassination of Haniyeh in the early hours of the morning, in an attack blamed on Israel against the building where he was staying in Tehran, the capital of Iran.

In this regard, Stano recalled that the EU keeps Hamas on the list of terrorist organisations and recalled that Haniyeh was wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes.

Regarding the consequences of this episode on the war in Gaza and the expansion of the conflict to other areas of the Middle East, the community spokesman called for avoiding a new escalation of the crisis, pointing out that “all parties should exercise maximum restraint.” “No country or nation will gain from a new escalation in the Middle East,” he summed up.

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Haniyeh was in Tehran to attend the inauguration of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, with whom he held a meeting on Tuesday along with Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad al-Nakhala, who was also in the building at the time of the attack. The two Palestinian leaders had also held a meeting with Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The attack, which could lead to a resurgence of the conflict in the region, has led Palestinian authorities to call for general mobilisation and an “uprising against the occupation” from mosques in the West Bank.

Haniyeh has become the most senior Palestinian official to be killed since Saleh al-Arouri was killed earlier this year in a bombing in southern Lebanon. He served as prime minister after Hamas won an absolute majority in Legislative Council elections in 2006, but was later dismissed by Mahmoud Abbas.