Funeral ceremonies for Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh are being held in Qatar as occasions are additionally going down in a number of nations together with Turkey, Lebanon, Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia.
On Friday, hundreds of mourners gathered on the Imam Muhammad bin Abdul al-Wahhab Mosque in Doha and carried out prayers for the Palestinian group’s political chief, forward of his burial at a cemetery in Lusail, north of the Qatari capital.
Representatives of different Palestinian factions and members of the general public attended the occasions within the metropolis, the place Haniyeh had lived together with representatives from the group’s political workplace.
The message from most attendees was considered one of solidarity for Palestinians in Gaza. “For lots of people, Haniyeh was a beacon of hope,” Aisha, 23, informed Al Jazeera. “I feel it’s vital to indicate our solidarity with the Palestinians and to simply make it possible for we’re right here for them, even when we will’t bodily do something, we’re nonetheless with them.”
Israel didn’t straight touch upon the killing of Haniyeh and a bodyguard in a predawn assault on their lodging in Tehran early on Wednesday, however has been accused by Hamas, Iran and others of the assault.
The Hamas chief’s assassination got here simply hours after Israel struck a southern suburb of Beirut, killing Fuad Shukr, the navy commander of the Iran-aligned Lebanese group Hezbollah. Israel has taken accountability for this assault.
Hamas has referred to as for a “day of livid rage” to coincide with the burial in Doha and inspired “roaring anger marches … from each mosque” following Friday prayers to protest in opposition to Haniyeh’s killing in addition to Israel’s ongoing battle on Gaza.
Turkey and Pakistan have introduced a day of mourning in honour of the Hamas chief.
Iran’s Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led prayers on Thursday as hundreds of mourners paid their respects throughout a public funeral ceremony for Haniyeh in Tehran. He earlier threatened “harsh punishment” for his killing.
Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari stated a particular committee that features Iran’s intelligence forces, the Revolutionary Guards and police forces was shaped to analyze the assassination, which was “one of many largest intelligence and safety failures within the nation’s latest historical past.”
Haniyeh was enjoying a key position in talks for a possible ceasefire in Gaza and dealing with mediators Qatar in months-long negotiations alongside Egypt and the US.
US President Joe Biden stated late on Thursday that Haniyeh’s killing had “not helped” the state of affairs and that he was “very involved” about rising tensions within the area.
The White Home stated Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone on Thursday, promising to defend Israel’s safety “in opposition to all threats from Iran”.
Qatar’s prime minister stated the killing had thrown the Gaza battle mediation course of into doubt. “How can mediation succeed when one get together assassinates the negotiator on the opposite aspect?” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani stated on social media platform X.
Qatar has hosted Hamas’s political bureau with the blessing of the USA since 2012 following the group’s closure of its workplace in Damascus, Syria.
The worldwide neighborhood referred to as for calm amid considerations {that a} concerted retaliation by Iran and its allies Hezbollah and Hamas may set off an intense regional battle.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday stated a response was “inevitable” as he addressed crowds of supporters gathered for the funeral of Shukr, the group’s senior commander who was killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut on Tuesday.
Israel warned its adversaries on Thursday that they’d “pay a really excessive value” for any “aggression”.
“Israel is at a really excessive stage of preparation for any state of affairs, each defensive and offensive,” Netanyahu stated in a press release. “Those that assault us, we’ll assault in return.”
Sami Nader, director of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs, informed Al Jazeera that the second was “very delicate” for Iran and its proxies, who had been “humiliated” by the killings.
“They should calibrate the response to recuperate the deterrence that was [lost] with out sliding into an all-out battle,” he stated.