Israel’s high-profile killings of Iran and regional leaders since 2023

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Israel has carried out a series of high-profile killings of senior figures tied to Hamas in Gaza and to Hezbollah in Lebanon, while also striking people identified by Israeli officials with Iran’s military and regional influence, an Associated Press review of recent years said. The list of names and dates in the review was assembled as Iran’s state media confirmed the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after what the report described as a major attack.

Iran’s state television and the state-run IRNA news agency said Khamenei was dead without elaborating on a cause. President Donald Trump had previously announced the death, saying it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The AP said Khamenei’s compound was among the first targets in an attack coordinated by the U.S. and Israel, and it linked the broader campaign to efforts to weaken Iran’s regional network of proxies.

The AP described the campaign as spanning several theaters—from Gaza to Lebanon to Iran—and it said Israel also killed leaders with the Houthis in Yemen as well as Iranian military leaders. It said the network of proxies and regional influence had been weakened in the past two years, including after a 12-day war with Israel last year, and it placed the latest leadership deaths within that trend.

In the AP review, Khamenei, 86, had faced pressure as the U.S. built up its military presence in the region in recent weeks to pressure Tehran over its nuclear program. The report said he allowed Iran to enter negotiations with the U.S., but that the attacks came two days after the latest talks. The AP said Iranian officials on Saturday did not mention Khamenei’s status, while Israel said it killed the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and the defense minister.

The Associated Press review then outlined killings of senior Hamas figures. It said Saleh Arouri, described as the deputy political head of Hamas and a founder of the group’s military wing, was killed on Jan. 2, 2024, in a drone strike in a southern suburb of Beirut. The report said Arouri had been accused of masterminding attacks against Israel in the West Bank and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to kill him even before Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.

For Gaza, the AP review said an Israeli airstrike on a compound on the outskirts of Khan Younis killed Mohammed Deif, the head of Hamas’ military wing, on July 13, 2024. It said more than 90 other people, including displaced civilians in nearby tents, also died. The report said Deif was believed to be one of the masterminds of the Oct. 7 attack and a founder of the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, and it described him as having led suicide bombing campaigns against Israeli civilians and built up a rocket arsenal used to strike into Israel.

The AP also described killings in Lebanon of senior Hezbollah commanders. It said Fouad Shukur, Hezbollah’s top military commander, was killed on July 30, 2024, in an Israeli airstrike on a southern suburb of Beirut. The report said Shukur was in charge of Hezbollah’s forces in southern Lebanon and was a top official in its missile program, and it described him as a member of Hezbollah’s Jihadi Council. The AP said the United States accused Shukur of planning and carrying out a truck bombing of a Marine Corps barracks in Beirut that killed 241 American service members, and it said Shukur was the first high-ranking Hezbollah leader to be killed.

After Shukur’s death, the AP review said Israel killed Hamas’ top political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran in a predawn strike on July 31, 2024. It said Israel had pledged to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders over the Oct. 7 attack, and that the strike came just after Haniyeh attended the inauguration of Iran’s new president.

The AP review then described Hezbollah leadership deaths in 2024 as Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs. It said Israeli airstrikes killed Hezbollah’s longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah, a founder of the group, on Sept. 27, 2024. It said the 64-year-old Nasrallah had reshaped Hezbollah into an archenemy of Israel and cemented alliances with Shiite religious leaders in Iran and Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas, while Hezbollah fought wars against Israel and sided with President Bashar Assad during the conflict in neighboring Syria.

In the day after Nasrallah’s death, the AP said Nabil Kaouk—the deputy head of Hezbollah’s Central Council—was killed in an Israeli airstrike south of Beirut. It said Kaouk joined Hezbollah in the early days in the 1980s, served as the group’s military commander in south Lebanon from 1995 until 2010, and made media appearances and speeches to supporters. The report said Kaouk was viewed as a potential successor to Nasrallah.

The AP review also said Israel later killed Hezbollah’s new leader, Hashem Safieddine, in a Beirut suburb on Oct. 3, 2024, days after Safieddine replaced Nasrallah. It said Safieddine was a leader with close ties to Iran and a member of Hezbollah’s Shura Council and Jihad Council, and that he headed the group’s Executive Council, which runs schools and social programs. The report described him as a maternal cousin of Nasrallah.

The AP account continued with Hamas and Iranian and Yemen-linked leadership deaths described as occurring after those Hezbollah killings, including the report that Israel killed Hamas’ Gaza Strip leader Yahya Sinwar on Oct. 16, 2024, and killed Mohammed Sinwar, described as the believed head of Hamas’ armed wing, in a strike on May 13, 2025. It also said that a wave of Israeli strikes on parts of Iran on June 13, 2025, killed Gen. Hossein Salami, the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. In Yemen, the AP review said Israel killed Ahmed al-Rahawi, the prime minister of the Houthi rebel-controlled government, in airstrikes on Sanaa on Aug. 28, 2025.

In the review’s final example, the AP said Israel stated that an Aug. 30, 2025, airstrike in Gaza killed Hudahaifa Kahlout, known by the nom de guerre Abu Obeida, described as the longtime spokesperson for Hamas’ armed wing. The report said Israeli officials tied Abu Obeida to the release of videos showing hostages and to footage of the Hamas-led attack that it described as sparking the war.