Haniyeh met with Leader Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei in recent days: Hamas official

Osama Hamdan, himself a member of Hamas politburo and its top representative in Lebanon, said on Saturday that Haniyeh had traveled to Tehran “a couple of days ago” and “had met and talked with” Ayatollah Khamenei, according to a report by the Lebanon-based TV channel Al Mayadeen.

Haniyeh, who is based in the Qatari capital of Doha, had met with the Leader in Tehran in late June.

However, his recent meeting with Ayatollah Khamenei came just weeks after Hamas launched an unprecedented operation into the Israeli-occupied territories, killing 1,400 Israeli settlers and military forces.

The operation unleashed a brutal military campaign by the Israeli regime against people in the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip, where Hamas is based.

Figures released on Saturday showed that the number of civilians killed in Israeli assaults on Gaza since October 7 had reached 9,488, including 3,900 children.

Hamdan said that Hamas is proud of the support it has been receiving from the Axis of Resistance, which includes groups in the West Asia region that are opposed to the Israeli regime and the hegemonic policies of the US government and its allies in the region.

Iran is a key supporter of Hamas although it has repeatedly declared that groups operating within the Axis of Resistance, including Hamas, act independent of Tehran when it comes to policymaking and military performance.

Resistant groups in Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen have been supporting Hamas in its ongoing fight against the Israeli regime by launching attacks on the Israelis or by targeting US military forces in the region.