Slain Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh’s funeral held in Qatar; Israel warned of revenge

The funeral of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh took place in Qatar on Friday following his assassination two days ago in Iran’s capital Tehran — one in a series of killings of senior figures in the Palestinian group as the fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza rages.

Mourners at the ceremony in Imam Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab Mosque, the Gulf emirate’s largest, just north of the capital Doha included Khaled Meshaal, who is tipped to be the new Hamas leader.

Other senior Hamas officials and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani also attended.

Mourners lined up for funeral prayers inside the mosque while others prayed on mats outside in temperatures that reached 44 degree Celsius.

Haniyeh’s 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.

He will be buried in a cemetery in the city of Lusail, north of Doha.

Turkiye and Pakistan announced a day of mourning today to honour Haniyeh, while Hamas called for a “day of furious rage”.

Many Doha mourners were dressed in crisp white traditional robes, others in street clothes. But most wore scarves that combined the Palestinian flag with a checkered keffiyeh pattern and the message in English: “Free Palestine”.

Doha traffic police and Qatar’s internal security forces monitored all approaches and police lined highway embankments adjoining the mosque grounds.

Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan were among the officials due at the funeral.

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri spoke to Reuters by phone as he attended the funeral: “Our 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.”

Haniyeh 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.

Iran 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.

The strike was one of several that have killed senior figures in Hamas or the Lebanese movement Hezbollah, fuelling concern that the fighting in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian group is turning into a regional conflict stretching from the Red Sea to the Lebanon-Israel border and beyond.

In the United States, President Joe Biden said Haniyeh’s killing was not helpful to international efforts to secure a ceasefire in the conflict in Gaza, now in its 10th month.

“It doesn’t help,” Biden told reporters on Thursday, when asked if the action ruined the chances of a truce.

Qatar has been leading the peace effort along with Egypt and the United States, Israel’s main ally.

Widow mourns

Haniyeh had been the face of Hamas’ international diplomacy as fighting raged back in Gaza and had taken part in the indirect ceasefire talks.

He was seen by many diplomats as a moderate compared to the more hardline members of the group inside Gaza, although some Israeli commentators have said he was considered by some on the Israeli side as an obstacle to a deal.

Appointed to the Hamas top job in 2017, he moved between Turkiye and Doha, escaping the travel curbs of the blockaded Gaza Strip.

In May, the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s 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.

“Say hello to all the martyrs of Gaza, say hello to the leaders, to all Gaza’s martyrs, all the Muslims,” Amal Haniyeh said as she mourned beside his coffin.

Hamas politburo member Izzat al-Rishq called on people to pray for his soul in all mosques around the world.

“Let today, Friday, be a day of overwhelming anger denouncing the assassination crime and rejecting the genocide in the Gaza Strip,” he said in a statement.

While 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.

Hezbollah confirmed on Wednesday that its senior military commander Fuad Shukr had been killed in an Israeli strike on a building in Beirut.

Hezbollah vowed on Thursday a “definite” response to Shukr’s killing, saying it had crossed red lines and that the decades-old rivalry between foes had entered a new phase.

“We are looking for a real response, not a performative response, and for real opportunities. A studied response,” said Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, speaking in a televised address to mark the funeral of the slain commander.

Deal ‘off the table’

The New York Times, citing Middle Eastern officials, reported that Haniyeh was killed by an explosive device planted several weeks ago at a Tehran guesthouse.

Asked about the report, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari told journalists “there was no other Israeli aerial attack … in all the Middle East” on the night of Shukr’s killing in Lebanon.

Hugh Lovatt, an analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said Haniyeh’s killing, at the very least “will mean that a ceasefire deal with Israel is now totally off of the table”.

Still, the international community called for calm and a focus on a Gaza truce, which Haniyeh had accused Israel of obstructing.

The White House said Biden spoke with Netanyahu by telephone on Thursday and affirmed his commitment to defend Israel’s security “against all threats from Iran”.

“We have the basis for a ceasefire. He should move on it and they should move on it now,” Biden told reporters after the call.

In Israel, hundreds of Israelis again marched in Tel Aviv to demand Netanyahu’s government reach a deal that would bring home the remaining hostages.