Hamas’ top leader Ismail Haniyeh was buried in Qatar yesterday following his assassination in the Iranian capital Tehran as senior officials of Hamas and other mourners said their fight against Israel would intensify.....CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE
His death was one in a series of killings of senior Hamas figures as Israel’s offensive in Gaza nears its 11th month and concern grows that the conflict is spreading across the Middle East.
Haniyeh was laid to rest in a cemetery in the city of Lusail after a funeral ceremony at the Iman Mohamed Ibn Abd Al-Wahhab Mosque in Qatar’s capital Doha.
His coffin, draped in the Palestinian flag, was carried in a procession past hundreds of people along with the casket of his bodyguard, who was killed in the same attack in Tehran on Wednesday.
Mourners at the ceremony included Khaled Meshaal, who is tipped to be the new Hamas leader. Other senior Hamas officials and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani also attended.
Killing of Hamas leader not helpful for truce talks: Biden Israel wants to expand conflict: Erdogan 18 more Palestinians killed in Gaza strikes
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters by phone: “Our message to the occupation (Israel) today is that you are sinking deep in the mud and your end is getting closer than ever. The blood of Haniyeh will change all equations.”
In the United States, US President Joe Biden said Haniyeh’s killing was not helpful to international efforts to secure a ceasefire in the offensive in Gaza. “It doesn’t help,” Biden told reporters on Thursday, when asked if the action ruined the chances of a truce.
In Gaza, at least 15 people were killed in Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians yesterday. The military also carried out an attack near the Jordanian hospital in Gaza City’s Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood that left three people killed and others injured.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said yesterday that at least 39,498 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive. The toll includes 18 deaths in 24 hours, according to ministry figures.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Biden on Thursday evening that Israel does not want a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Erdogan said in a telephone call that the assassination of Haniyeh “dealt a heavy blow” to ceasefire efforts in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has shown “at every step” that it does not want a ceasefire and peace, and his recent address to the US Congress prompted “deep disappointment” in Türkiye and the world, Erdogan told Biden.
Israel is working to spread the fire in Gaza to the entire region, Erdogan stressed.
