Eran Etzion: Haniyeh assassination is a strategy to kill a ceasefire deal

Eran Etzion, former deputy head of Israel's national security council has said that the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh "serves as a strategy of killing the ceasefire deal."

Eztion told Middle East Eye that Israel could use the assassination to show it had achieved its political goals and conclude the war, but "that is not in Netanyahu's interest."

"Netanyahu wants a big war, Israel does not," he told MEE. "Netanyahu is one man but no one stands up to him. The defence establishment does but the other ministers are puppets."

Etzion added that Haniyeh's killing has increased the likelihood of a major war: "There will be an Iranian response. They cannot but respond. Will it degenerate into full scale war? I do not know," he said.

He also said that, despite Blinken's claims to contrary, the US likely had prior knowledge of the attack, citing the fact that the US carried out a strike themselves in Iraq coinciding with the Israeli attacks in Beirut and Lebanon.

He added that this could signal a shift in US policy, potentially due to tensions with Iran or new balances of power in Washington.