Mourners gathered in Doha, Friday (2/8), to pray together at the funeral of slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, as Iran and its regional allies vowed revenge against Israel.
The men knelt and prayed as senior leaders of the Qatar-based Hamas political office paid their last respects to Haniyeh's family, in front of Haniyeh's body and her bodyguards in a coffin draped in a Palestinian flag.
Two people considered candidates for his successor: Khalil Al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official and head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the former head of Hamas, Khaled Mashaal, a close aide to Haniyeh, were among the mourners.
Al-Hayya told family members that Haniyeh was “no better or more loved” than the children killed in Gaza. Some 39,480 Palestinians have been killed during the war, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
“We are confident that his blood will bring victory, dignity and liberation,” he said.
The funeral came a day after Israel confirmed that Hamas' military wing chief, Mohammed Deif, was killed in a July 13 airstrike in Gaza, and days after Israel announced the killing of Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur in a strike in Lebanon.
Hamas has not commented and previously claimed Deif survived a targeted air strike last month.
Israel has neither claimed nor denied a role in Haniyeh's killing, but Hamas and its allies have blamed Israel. The group said Haniyeh was killed in a missile strike on the Tehran guesthouse where he was staying while attending the inauguration of Iran's new president on Wednesday.
From Morocco to Iran, demonstrators took to the streets to show support for Haniyeh. “Make Friday a day of anger to condemn the assassination,” Hamas's Izzat al-Risheq said in a statement.
A day earlier, supporters paraded in Tehran as Haniyeh's coffin was carried through the city in luxury vehicles, while hundreds of black-clad mourners packed an auditorium in Beirut to pay their respects to the slain Hezbollah commander.
“We have entered a new phase different from the previous period,” Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah told mourners, vowing a “well-planned response” to Israel.
The killings of Haniyeh and Shukur are a victory for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu as Israeli forces continue to operate in Gaza, nearly 10 months after Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel sparked the war.
At home, it may help win over skeptics of his war strategy. But internationally, the killing has left mediators scrambling to salvage a ceasefire deal and prevent a regional war.
“We have the basis for a ceasefire. He (Netanyahu) should continue it and they should continue it now,” US President Joe Biden said Thursday evening (Aug. 1), speaking on the tarmac of an air base outside Washington.
However, Haniyeh had been one of Hamas's main negotiators during the ceasefire discussions and his killing could destabilize the talks for months.
“You (Israel) cannot achieve peace by killing negotiators and threatening diplomats,” wrote Oncu Keceli, a spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry, on the social media platform X.
Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes on Gaza continued. On Thursday, an attack on a school housing displaced Palestinians in the Shujaiya district of Gaza City killed at least 15 people and wounded more than 40 others, according to the Palestinian Civil Defense, which sent teams to retrieve the bodies. The Israeli military accused Hamas militants of using the compound to plan attacks on Israel. (es/ft)
