Hamas said Wednesday its political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in an Israeli strike in Iran, where he was attending the inauguration of the country's new president, and vowed the act "will not go unanswered."

Haniyeh's killing came after Israel on Tuesday struck a Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut, killing a senior commander of the Iran-backed group it said was responsible for a weekend rocket attack on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

"Brother leader, mujahid Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the movement, died in a Zionist strike on his residence in Tehran after he participated in the inauguration of the new (Iranian) president," the Palestinian militant group said in a statement.