Iranians chase a truck carrying the coffins of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard, who were killed on Wednesday in a killing blamed on Israel. Photo: AP
Iran held a funeral ceremony in Tehran on August 1 with calls for revenge for the killing of Hamas political chief. Ismail Haniyah Israel has been blamed for this attack.
Thousands of mourners paid tribute to Haniya, as the Israeli military confirmed that Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif had been killed in an air strike in Gaza last month.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei He led prayers for Haniyya ahead of her burial in Qatar, earlier threatening “severe punishment” for her murder.
Crowds, including women dressed in black, marched through Tehran’s city center carrying posters of Haniyeh and Palestinian flags, with the ceremony beginning at Tehran University.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announced a day earlier that Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were killed in an attack early Wednesday on his residence in Tehran.
The incident came just hours after Israel killed top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in a retaliatory strike south of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, raising fears of a wider regional conflict as the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza continues. Shukr will be buried on Thursday.
‘Duty to respond’
Senior Iranian officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps chief General Hossein Salami, attended Haniyeh’s swearing-in ceremony, state TV reported. Qatar-based Haniyeh came to Tehran on Tuesday for Mr Pezeshkian’s swearing-in ceremony.
Hamas foreign relations chief Khalil al-Hayya vowed during the funeral ceremony that Haniyya’s message would live on and that “we will pursue Israel until it is uprooted from the land of Palestine”.
Mr. Pezeshkian later told Mr. Haya that Iran would continue to support with determination the “axis of resistance,” the Iran-allied regional group that includes Hamas, the official Irna The news agency gave this information.
“It is our duty to respond at the right time and at the right place,” Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the attacks in Tehran and Beirut represented a “dangerous escalation”.