Thousands attend funeral prayers for Ismail Haniyeh after assassination puts Middle East on edge
Thousands of people gathered for the funeral of Ismail Haniyeh in the Qatari capital on Friday, two days after the veteran Hamas official who played a key role in talks for a potential ceasefire in Gaza was killed in an Israeli attack in Tehran.
Large crowds of Muslims descended on Doha's Imam Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab Mosque for Friday prayers, including dozens of foreign dignitaries and representatives from Palestinian groups and factions.
Senior Fatah figure Mahmoud al-Aloul was also at Haniyehs funeral, in what will be seen as a show of unity given the over 17-year fallout between Hamas and Fatah.
Last week, Fatah, Hamas and several other Palestinian factions signed a unity agreement in Beijing for a post-war framework in Gaza.
Mustafa Barghouti, of the Palestinian National Initiative, is also reported to have travelled to Qatar for the funeral, according to the Al Jazeera network.
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Turkey sent a high-level delegation to the funeral.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with senior Hamas member Khaled Meshaal on Friday to express his condolences over Haniyeh's killing. The delegation included Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz, Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmus and intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin.
After the service, Haniyeh was buried at the Founder Imam Cemetery in Lusail, north of Doha.
Haniyeh was killed alongside his long-serving bodyguard Wasim Abu Shaaban on Wednesday, hours after they attended a swearing-in ceremony for Iran's new President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Three individuals who were in the heavily guarded building told MEE that Haniyeh was killed by a projectile fired at his room and not a planted bomb.
The killing of Haniyeh, which Hamas, Iran and others have blamed on Israel, came hours after Israeli forces struck a southern suburb of Beirut, killing Fuad Shukr, the military commander of the Iran-aligned Lebanese group Hezbollah. Israel has taken responsibility for this attack.
US President Joe Biden said on Thursday that Haniyeh’s killing had “not helped” with ceasefire talks and that he was “very concerned” about rising tensions in the region.
A funeral procession was held for Haniyeh in Tehran on Thursday.
Khamenei led the prayers over the coffins of the Hamas leader and his bodyguard at a ceremony at the University of Tehran.
Mourners waved Palestinian flags and threw flowers on the coffins. Some chanted “Death to Israel” and “Death to America”.
Iran and its allies in the region, known collectively as the Axis of Resistance, met in Tehran on Thursday to discuss possible retaliation for the assassination, according to Reuters.
Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Yemen's Houthis, Lebanon's Hezbollah and Iran-backed Iraqi paramilitary groups are due to attend, sources told Reuters.
In Gaza, Hamas called for a "day of furious rage" to protest against the killing and Israel's war on Gaza which since October 7 has killed almost 40,000 people.
Later on Friday, thousands gathered at the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque in Istanbul to pay their respects to Haniyeh. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was expected to address the event but his visit was cancelled at the last minute.
The Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv lowered its flag to half-staff, drawing the ire of Israeli officials. Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir responded on X to the move, saying, “Representatives of the Turkish Embassy in Israel are invited to take down the flag completely and return home."
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