Revenge demanded at funeral procession for Hamas leader

TehranThousands of people on Thursday demanded revenge at the funeral in Tehran of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who died the day before in an attack in the Iranian capital blamed on Israel.

Carrying Palestinian flags and portraits of Haniyeh, crowds of Iranians gathered at Tehran University for the start of the funeral procession for the Islamist leader, who will be buried in Doha on Friday.

The funeral coincided with the Israeli army’s announcement that it had killed Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif in a bombing in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, in July. Israel had accused the senior official of “initiating, planning and carrying out the October 7 massacre” on Israeli territory, which sparked the war against the Islamist group in Gaza.

In Iran, the leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, led the prayers for Haniyeh, threatening to inflict “harsh punishment” on Israel for his death.

The death was announced Wednesday by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which reported an attack in the early hours of the morning in Tehran.

Hours earlier, an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, killed the military commander of the pro-Iranian group Hezbollah, Fuad Shukr, fueling fears of a regional conflagration over the conflict in Gaza.

Khamenei, who has the final say in Iran’s political affairs, said it was his “duty to seek revenge” for Haniyeh’s killing in the Islamic Republic.

Hamas leader Masud Pezeshkian attended the inauguration of Iran’s new president on Tuesday in Tehran, where he promised that “the Zionists will soon see the consequences of their terrorist and cowardly act.”

“We will persecute Israel”

Iranian state television broadcasts of the funeral showed the coffins of Haniyeh and his bodyguard draped with Palestinian flags.

The coffins, with black and white prints resembling the Palestinian kufiya headscarf, were transported on a flower-adorned truck through the streets of Tehran.

The ceremony was attended by high-ranking Iranian figures such as President Pezeshkian and the head of the Revolutionary Guard, General Hosein Salami.

Hamas foreign relations chief Khalil Al Hayya said during the ceremony that “Ismail Haniyeh’s slogan, ‘We will not recognize Israel,’ will remain an immortal slogan.” “We will pursue Israel until we uproot it from the land of Palestine,” he said.

Iran’s conservative parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said his country would “fulfill the order of the supreme leader” to avenge Haniyeh.

“It is our duty to respond at the right time and place,” he said as the crowd chanted “Death to Israel, death to America!”

The international community, however, called for calm and asked that efforts be focused on ensuring a ceasefire in Gaza.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the attacks in Tehran and Beirut represent a “dangerous escalation at a time when all efforts should lead to a ceasefire in Gaza.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday urged “all parties” in the Middle East to “engage in dialogue” and “cease any action that contributes to escalation.”

Mediation in doubt

The Islamic Republic has not released information about the exact location of the attack.

Israel, which has been singled out by Iran and Hamas, has not commented on Haniyeh’s death.

It did, however, claim responsibility for the attack that killed Shukr, in response to a deadly rocket attack on the annexed Golan Heights.

The deaths have fuelled regional tensions over the Gaza war, which has led to increased hostilities between Israel and pro-Iran groups in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

They also jeopardize indirect negotiations for a truce and the release of hostages that have been ongoing for months between Hamas and Israel, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States.

Analysts told AFP that Haniyeh was a moderate figure within the Islamist movement and that while he could be replaced, the dynamics within Hamas could change.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy the group in response to the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war in Gaza.

The action resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP report based on official Israeli data.

Islamist fighters also took 251 people hostage. According to the Israeli army, 111 of them are still in Gaza, although 39 are believed dead.

The Israeli military offensive on Gaza has left at least 39,480 dead, according to the Ministry of Health of this Hamas-ruled territory.

Months of negotiations only allowed for a brief one-week truce in November. Following Haniyeh’s death, Qatar, a key player in the mediation, cast doubt on the future of these talks.