Qatar will hold a funeral ceremony on Friday for Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh who was killed in Tehran in an attack blamed on Israel that has raised fears of further escalation of regional tensions.
Haniyeh, the political head of the Palestinian armed group, lived in Doha along with other members of the Hamas political office.
After funeral prayers at the Imam Muhammad bin Abdul Wahab Mosque, the largest in the gas-rich emirate, he will be buried at a cemetery in Lusail, north of the Qatari capital.
His killing has sparked calls for revenge and is one of a number of incidents that have escalated regional tensions during the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas, which has been joined by Iran-backed militant groups from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.
Hamas has said that “Arab and Islamic leaders” as well as representatives of other Palestinian factions and the general public would attend the events.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were killed in an attack on his residence in Tehran on Wednesday.
He went to Iran on Tuesday to attend the swearing-in ceremony of President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Despite Hamas, Iran and other groups blaming Israel for the attack, Israel has not commented directly on it.
The killing of the Hamas leader came just hours after an Israeli attack on a southern suburb of Beirut that killed Fuad Shukr, a military commander for the Hamas-allied Lebanese group Hezbollah.
Crowds of mourners paid their tributes during Haniyeh’s public funeral ceremony in Tehran on Thursday.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led prayers, and earlier threatened “severe punishment” for his killing.
‘Anger’
Turkey and Pakistan have declared a day of mourning on Friday in honour of Haniyeh, while Hamas has called for a “day of fierce indignation” to coincide with the burial.
The Palestinian group encouraged “vigorous indignation marches from every mosque” after Friday prayers to protest Haniyeh’s killing as well as the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas in retaliation for the October 7 Israeli attack that triggered the war in Gaza.
The attack killed 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.
The militants also took 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still being held in Gaza, 39 of whom the military says are dead.
At least 39,480 people have been killed in Gaza in Israel’s counteroffensive against Hamas, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, though the ministry did not provide a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths.
‘high price’
Qatar-based network Al Jazeera reported that Haniyeh’s coffin arrived in Doha on Thursday afternoon, and broadcast images of a convoy including internal security force vehicles on Doha’s coastal Corniche road.
Qatar has hosted Hamas’ political bureau with support from the United States since 2012, when the Palestinian militant group closed its office in Damascus.
Haniyeh played a key role in negotiations for a potential ceasefire in Gaza, establishing contacts with mediator Qatar, which led months of behind-the-scenes talks with Egypt and the United States.
U.S. President Joe Biden said late Thursday that he was “very concerned” about rising tensions in the region and said Haniyeh’s killing “did not help” the situation.
The White House said Biden spoke with Netanyahu by telephone on Thursday and pledged to defend Israel’s security “against all threats from Iran.”
“We have the basis for a ceasefire. They should move forward on it and they should move forward on it as well,” Biden told reporters after the call.
Reacting to Haniyeh’s death, Qatar’s Prime Minister said the killing had cast the Gaza war mediation process into doubt.
“How can mediation succeed when one side kills the other side’s negotiator?” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani said on the social media site X.
The international community called for maintaining calm and focusing on ensuring a ceasefire in Gaza – a move Haniyeh accused Israel of obstructing.
Israel on Thursday warned its opponents that they would “pay a very heavy price” for any “aggression”.
“Israel is carrying out a very high level of preparation for any situation, whether defensive or offensive,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
“Those who attack us, we will also attack them back.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
