Iran was set to hold a funeral procession on Thursday for Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in an attack in Tehran blamed on Israel, after which he will be buried in Doha.
The Islamic Republic’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will lead prayers for Haniyeh, having previously threatened “harsh punishment” for her killing.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announced Haniyeh’s death on Wednesday, saying he and his bodyguards were killed in an attack at his residence in the Iranian capital at about 2:00 am (2230 GMT).
The attack came just hours after Israel targeted and killed top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in a retaliatory strike on the Lebanese capital Beirut, raising fears of a wider regional war.
Israel declined to comment on the Tehran attack.
Khamenei, who has the final word on Iran’s political affairs, said after Haniyeh’s death that “it is our duty to avenge his blood, as he was martyred on the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
The Hamas leader was in Tehran on Tuesday for the swearing-in ceremony of newly elected President Masoud Pezeshkian.
The Iranian president said on Wednesday that “the Zionists (Israel) will soon see the consequences of their cowardly and terrorist act”.
Musa Abu Marzuk, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, also vowed retaliation, saying: “The killing of leader Ismail Haniyya is a cowardly act and will be responded to.”
However, the international community has called for a focus on de-escalating tensions in Gaza and ensuring a ceasefire.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the attacks in Tehran and Beirut represented a “dangerous escalation”.
He said all efforts should “lead to a ceasefire” in Gaza and the release of hostages taken during Hamas’ October 7 attack on southern Israel.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said on Wednesday that a ceasefire in Gaza was still “essential”.
Threat to ceasefire talks
Crowds took to the streets in various cities across Iran since Wednesday morning to condemn Haniyeh’s killing, and hundreds gathered in Tehran’s Palestine Square chanting “Down with Israel, Down with America.”
The Islamic Republic has not yet published any information about the exact location of the attack.
Iran has blamed its arch-foe for the attack, while Israel has declined to comment on Haniyeh’s death. However, it has claimed the killing of Shukr, whom it blames for a deadly rocket attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights over the weekend.
The Israeli military said it had “eliminated” Hezbollah’s top commander in the attack, and a source close to the group said on Wednesday they had found his body in the rubble. Iran’s IRNA news agency said Iranian military adviser Milad Bidi was also killed.
The killings come at a time when regional tensions are already high over the war in Gaza, a conflict that has also involved Iran-backed militant groups from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.
Hamas has been indirectly negotiating a ceasefire and hostage-swap deal with Israel for several months, with Egypt, Qatar and the United States assisting in the talks.
Analysts told AFP that Haniyeh was a moderating influence within the Islamist group and although he would be removed, the dynamics within Hamas could change.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas in retaliation for the war-mongering attack in Gaza on October 7.
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 39,445 people have been killed in Gaza in Israel’s counteroffensive against Hamas, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
The prime minister of Qatar, a key ceasefire mediator, said Haniyeh’s killing had cast the entire mediation process into doubt.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
