Israel warned of revenge
\nHaniyeh killed by a missile that hit him directly in a state guesthouse in Tehran where he was staying
\nDUBAI
\nThe funeral of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh took place in Qatar on Friday following his assassination two days ago in Iran\u2019s capital Tehran\u2013one in a series of killings of senior figures in the Palestinian militant group as the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza rages.
\nMourners at the ceremony in a large mosque just north of the capital Doha included Khaled Meshaal, who is tipped to be the new Hamas leader. Other senior Hamas officials and Qatar\u2019s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani also attended.
\nHe will be buried in a cemetery in the city of Lusail, north of Doha.
\nHaniyeh\u2019s coffin, draped in the Palestinian flag, was carried across the mosque past hundreds of people along with the coffin of his bodyguard, who was killed in the same attack in Tehran on Wednesday.
\nSenior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri to Reuters by phone as he attended the funeral: \u201cOur message to the occupation (Israel) today is that you are sinking deep in the mud and your end is getting closer than ever. The blood of Haniyeh will change all equations.\u201d
\nHaniyeh was killed by a missile that hit him directly in a state guesthouse in Tehran where he was staying, senior Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya told a news conference, quoting witnesses who were with him.
\nIran and Hamas have both accused Israel of carrying out the killing and have pledged to retaliate against their foe. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the death nor denied it.
\nThe strike was one of several that have killed senior figures in Hamas or the Lebanese movement Hezbollah, fuelling concern that the war in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian militants is turning into a regional conflict stretching from the Red Sea to the Lebanon-Israel border and beyond.
\nIn the United States, US President Joe Biden said Haniyeh\u2019s killing was not helpful to international efforts to secure a ceasefire in the war in Gaza, now in its 10th month.
\n\u201cIt doesn\u2019t help,\u201d Biden told reporters on Thursday, when asked if the action ruined the chances of a truce.
\nQatar has been leading the peace effort along with Egypt and the United States, Israel\u2019s main ally.
\nWidow mourns
\nHaniyeh had been the face of Hamas\u2019s international diplomacy as war raged back in Gaza and had taken part in the indirect ceasefire talks.
\nHe was seen by many diplomats as a moderate compared to the more hardline members of the Iran-backed group inside Gaza, although some Israeli commentators have said he was considered by some on the Israeli side as an obstacle to a deal.
\nAppointed to the Hamas top job in 2017, he moved between Turkey and Doha, escaping the travel curbs of the blockaded Gaza Strip.
\nIn May, the International Criminal Court prosecutor\u2019s office requested arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders, including Haniyeh, as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes. Israel and Palestinian leaders have dismissed the allegations. Iran held its own funeral ceremony for Haniyeh on Thursday which was attended by his widow Amal. \u201cSay hello to all the martyrs of Gaza, say hello to the leaders, to all Gaza\u2019s martyrs, all the Muslims,\u201d Amal Haniyeh said as she mourned beside his coffin.
\nHamas politburo member Izzat al-Rishq called on people to pray for his soul in all mosques around the world.
\n\u201cLet today, Friday, be a day of overwhelming anger denouncing the assassination crime and rejecting the genocide in the Gaza Strip,\u201d he said in a statement.
\nWhile Israel has not said it carried out the killing, it has announced that an airstrike it mounted last month killed the elusive Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif in Gaza. Hamas has not confirmed nor denied the death of Deif.
\nHezbollah confirmed on Wednesday that its senior military commander Fuad Shukr had been killed in an Israeli strike on a building in Beirut.
\nHezbollah vowed on Thursday a \u201cdefinite\u201d response to Shukr\u2019s killing, saying it had crossed red lines and that the decades-old rivalry between foes had entered a new phase.
\n\u201cWe are looking for a real response, not a performative response, and for real opportunities. A studied response,\u201d said Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, speaking in a televised address to mark the funeral of the slain commander.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israel warned of revenge Haniyeh killed by a missile that hit him directly in a state guesthouse in Tehran where he was staying DUBAI The funeral of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh took place in Qatar on Friday following his assassination two days ago in Iran\u2019s capital Tehran\u2013one in a series of killings of senior figures […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422519,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-422506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n