The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Thursday that the communist nation "firmly" opposes and condemns the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital of Tehran.
"We firmly oppose and condemn the act of assassination and are deeply concerned that the incident may plunge the region into greater turmoil," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters. "Gaza needs a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire as soon as possible and there should be no more escalation of the conflict and confrontation."
Haniyeh was killed by a missile that hit him "directly" in a state guesthouse in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Khalil Al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official, told a news conference, citing witnesses who were with Haniyeh.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed Haniyeh's death and said it occurred hours after he attended a swearing-in ceremony for Iran's new president.
Based in Qatar, Haniyeh was in Tehran for the inauguration of new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei presided over the slain Hamas leader's funeral on Thursday.
The attack has elicited threats of revenge on Israel and sparked further concern that the conflict in Gaza could spread and further engulf the Middle East in a broader war.
Though the strike on Haniyeh is widely believed to have been carried out by Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government did not claim responsibility and said it would not comment on the killing.
According to Breitbart News, China has inserted itself into the goings-on in the Middle East in part by cooperating with Hamas. Chinese Communist Party representatives reportedly met with Haniyeh in March, telling the terror group leader that Beijing considered Hamas "part of the Palestinian national fabric and China is keen on relations with it."
China has also tried, according to Breitbart, to broker talks between Hamas and rival group Fatah, which controls the West Bank. Hamas currently controls the Gaza Strip, which it used as a staging ground for the Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel.
Lin added that China supports "Palestine's internal reconciliation," referring to its efforts to put an end to the discord between Hamas and Fatah, which stems from when Hamas militants attacked Fatah in 2007 and seized control of Gaza.
"China remains committed to keeping the Middle East peaceful and stable, and opposes external interference," Lin said.
Sun Degang, director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Fudan University, told the Chinese state-run newspaper Global Times that the strike on Haniyeh underscores the escalation of conflict in the Middle East.
"As a result, reconciliation efforts between Israel and Palestine as well as peace talks between Hamas and Israel are likely to face significant setbacks," Sun told the outlet.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.