Funeral ceremony for the leader of Hamas Ismail Haniya was held today in Qatar, following his assassination two days ago in the Iranian capital Tehran.
It is one of several assassinations of senior Palestinian militant group officials as the war between Israel and Hamas rages on in Gaza.
Among those who attended the ceremony at a large mosque north of the capital Doha were Khaled Meshaal, who may be the new leader of Hamas. Other senior Hamas officials as well as the emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani were also present.
The funeral ceremony for Ismail Haniya in Qatar.
Haniya will be buried in a cemetery in the city of Lusail, north of Doha.
The coffin with Haniya’s body, draped in the Palestinian flag, was brought to the mosque along with his bodyguard, who was killed in the same attack on Wednesday.
The senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zohri he told Reuters by phone from the funeral: “Our message to the occupying power (ie Israel) today is that you are sinking deep into the mire and your end is closer than ever. Haniya’s blood will change all the equations».
Iran and Hamas are preparing retaliation
Haniya was killed by a bomb planted in the Tehran hostel where he was staying, senior Hamas official Khalil al-Haya told a news conference, citing witnesses who were with him.
The Iran and the Hamas they blame Israel for the killing and have vowed to retaliate. Israel has neither claimed responsibility nor denied it.
Haniya has been the face of Hamas’s international diplomacy as the war rages in Gaza and has taken part in indirect ceasefire talks.
He was seen by many diplomats as a moderate compared to the more hard-line members of the Iran-backed group inside Gaza, although some Israeli commentators say he was seen by some on the Israeli side as an obstacle to a deal.
Appointed to Hamas’ top post in 2017, he shuttled between Turkey and Doha, evading travel restrictions in the blockaded Gaza Strip.
In May, the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor’s office issued arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders, including Haniya, as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes. Israeli and Palestinian leaders reject the accusations.
Iran held its own funeral service for Haniya yesterday, Thursday, which was attended by his widow Amal.
The funeral ceremony for Haniya in Iran on Thursday, August 1, 2024.
“Hail all the martyrs of Gaza, hail the leaders, all the martyrs of Gaza, all Muslims”she said addressing her late husband Amal Haniya next to his coffin.
«My dear, deliver my greetings to all the martyrs from Gaza»
Ismail Haniyeh’s wife, Amal Haniyeh, says her final farewell a day before the Hamas political leader’s burial in Doha, Qatar pic.twitter.com/Fs3R9PmtpD
— TRT World (@trtworld) August 2, 2024
Dead Dave and Shukr
While Israel has not claimed responsibility for the killing, it announced that the military leader of Hamas Mohammed Daif he is dead Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied Daif’s death.
Hezbollah confirmed on Wednesday that its top military commander Fuad Soukr was killed in an Israeli strike against a building in Beirut.
Hezbollah vowed on Thursday to give a clear response to Shukr’s killing, saying Israel had crossed red lines and that the two sides’ long-standing rivalry had entered a new phase.
National mourning in Turkey
Day of national mourning for the death of Ismail Haniya, today’s day was declared in Turkey by the president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Friday, a day of prayer for Muslims, coincides with the funeral and burial of Ismail Haniya in Qatar.
In his post on Platform X, the Turkish president states:
“In order to express our support for the Palestinian struggle and our solidarity with our Palestinian brothers, a one-day national mourning has been declared tomorrow, Friday, August 2, due to the martyrdom of the head of the Hamas Politburo, Ismail Haniya.
I remember Ismail Haniya and all the Palestinian martyrs with reverence, and both on behalf of myself and on behalf of my nation, I express my condolences to the Palestinian people.”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Hakan Fidan met with Khaled Meshaal, deputy head of the Hamas Political Bureau, in Doha, the capital of Qatar, and expressed his condolences.
Also present at the meeting were Ismail Haniya’s sons Abdusalam and Hemam.
In addition to Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Vice President Cevnet Yilmaz and National Assembly Speaker Numan Kurtulmus will attend Haniya’s funeral on behalf of Turkey.
Tensions between Israel and Turkey
The Israeli Foreign Ministry today summoned the deputy Turkish ambassador to reprimand him because the Turkish flag at the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv was flying at half mast as a sign of mourning for the death of the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniya.
“The State of Israel will not tolerate mourning for a murderer like Ismail Haniya”the foreign minister said Israel Katz in his statement.
Haniya was assassinated on Wednesday in Tehran hours after attending the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s new president, Massoud Pezheskian.
Katz’s statement said Haniya was the Hamas leader during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 Israelis and foreigners and took more than 250 people hostage in Gaza, triggering Israel’s military offensive on the Gaza Strip.
The representative of the Turkish Foreign Ministry Onzu Ketseli, responding to Kats’s announcement in a post on X, emphasized: “You cannot achieve peace by killing negotiators, threatening diplomats”in an apparent reference to the Haniya assassination.
Tensions between Israel and Turkey have risen sharply since the start of the Gaza war, in which more than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed.
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