The funeral of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Iran earlier this week, took place in Qatar as commemorations were held in countries including Turkey, Lebanon, Yemen, Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Thousands of mourners gathered at Doha’s Imam Muhammad ibn Abdul al-Wahhab Mosque on Friday to take part in ritual prayers ahead of the burial of the Palestinian group’s political leader in Lusail, north of the Qatari capital.
Representatives of other Palestinian factions and members of the public attended the funeral in the city where Haniyeh had lived with members of Hamas’s political bureau. His family was present at the funeral, amid tight security measures at the Qatar National Mosque.
The atmosphere was one of both mourning and solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel has not commented on the killing, but after the October 7 Hamas-led incursion into southern Israel in which 1,139 people were killed, Israeli officials vowed to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders as part of a stated aim to crush the group.
Haniyeh’s assassination Wednesday, blamed on Israel by Hamas, Iran and others, came hours after Israeli forces struck a southern suburb of Beirut, killing Fuad Shukr, the military commander of Lebanon’s pro-Iranian Hezbollah group. Israel claimed responsibility for the attack.
In Gaza, Hamas called for a “day of furious rage” to protest the killings and Israel’s deadliest war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 40,000 people since October 7.
Turkey and Pakistan have announced a day of mourning for the Hamas leader.
Thousands of people gathered at Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia Mosque to pay tribute to Haniyeh during Friday prayers. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was scheduled to speak at the event, but his visit was canceled at the last minute.
The Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv has lowered its flag to half-mast, angering Israeli officials. Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir responded to the decision on X, saying: “Representatives of the Turkish embassy in Israel are invited to completely remove the flag and return home.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry has summoned Turkey’s deputy ambassador for a reprimand.
“The State of Israel will not tolerate expressions of mourning for a murderer like Ismail Haniyeh,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.
A symbolic funeral was held in Lebanon’s capital Beirut as anger mounted over the killings of Hezbollah’s Shukr and Haniyeh.
“The feeling here is that we could see an escalation because the resistance axis groups (protected by Iran) are promising a response,” said Tel Aviv Tribune’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei presided over a public funeral ceremony for Haniyeh in Tehran on Thursday before the coffin was transported to Doha. He had earlier threatened “severe punishment” for Haniyeh’s killing.
According to Dorsa Jabbari, an Tel Aviv Tribune journalist in Tehran, a special committee comprising representatives from Iran’s intelligence services, the Revolutionary Guards and the police force has been formed to investigate the assassination, which is “one of the biggest intelligence and security failures in the country’s recent history.”
Ceasefire talks in doubt
Haniyeh was engaged in ceasefire negotiations with Qatari mediators, alongside Egypt and the United States.
US President Joe Biden said Haniyeh’s assassination had “not helped” the situation.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani asked on X: “How can mediation succeed when one side murders the negotiator on the other side?”
The international community has called for calm amid fears of intense regional conflict.
Sami Nader, director of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs, told Tel Aviv Tribune that Iran and its allies were facing a “very delicate” moment.
“They have to calibrate the response to regain the deterrence that has been (lost) without sliding into all-out war,” he said.
Tor Wennesland, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said it was “crucial that we act decisively and collectively to address the immediate threats and lay the foundations for lasting peace.”
