Top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was buried in Qatar on Friday after his assassination in the Iranian capital Tehran, and his likely successor told mourners that his death would make the Palestinian militant group more determined in its struggle against Israel.
Haniyeh’s death is one of a series of assassinations of senior Hamas leaders as the war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza approaches its 11th month and there are growing concerns that the conflict is spreading across the Middle East.
Both Hamas and Iran have blamed Israel for the killing and have vowed to retaliate against their enemy. Israel has neither taken responsibility for the killing nor denied it.
Haniyya was buried at the Lusail city cemetery after a funeral ceremony at the Iman Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Mosque in Doha, the capital of Qatar.
His coffin, draped in a Palestinian flag, was carried in a procession past hundreds of people, along with the coffin of his bodyguard who was killed in the same attack in Tehran on Wednesday.
Among the mourners at the ceremony was Khaled Meshaal, who is believed to be the new leader of Hamas. Other senior Hamas officials and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani were also present.
Speaking at the mosque where Haniyya’s body was laid out for prayers, Meshaal said her death would make the group even more determined to continue its fight for an independent Palestine. He said there would be no concessions on its principles and no recognition of Israel.
“Palestine will remain from the river to the sea… and there is no place for the Zionists (Israel) on Palestinian land, no matter how many of us they kill,” Meshaal said in a video released by Hamas.
He said that Haniya’s death is a big loss for the movement but it will not change the direction of the movement.
He said, “Our enemies do not learn lessons, they have been killing our leaders for 100 years, what happened? When one leader goes to heaven, another leader comes.”
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters by phone: “Our message today to the occupier (Israel) is that you are sinking deeper into the mud and your end is getting closer than ever. Haniyya’s blood will change all the equations.”
Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said in Tehran that Haniyeh was killed by a missile that hit directly into a government guesthouse in Tehran where he was staying.
The attack was one of a number of recent strikes that have killed senior leaders of Hamas, or the Lebanese movement Hezbollah. The conflict has now spread from Gaza to the Red Sea and the Lebanon-Israel border and beyond.
In the United States, US President Joe Biden said Haniyeh’s killing was not helpful to international efforts to ensure a ceasefire in Gaza.
When asked by reporters on Thursday if the action doomed any prospects for a ceasefire, Biden said: “It’s not going to help.”
Qatar is leading the peace efforts along with Egypt and the United States, Israel’s main ally.
The widow mourns
Haniyeh was the face of Hamas’ international diplomacy when the Israeli invasion destroyed Gaza.
He was seen by many diplomats as a pragmatist compared to more hardline members of the Iran-backed group inside Gaza, although some Israeli commentators have said that some on the Israeli side considered him an obstacle to the agreement.
Hamas said three of his sons and four grandchildren were killed in Israeli air strikes on the besieged region in April.
For Palestinian supporters, the Hamas leadership is fighting for freedom from Israeli occupation, keeping its cause alive even when international diplomacy has failed.
To Israelis and Western countries, the Iran-backed Hamas, which has directed suicide bombings in Israel and fought successive wars against it, is a terrorist group bent on Israel’s destruction.
After being appointed to Hamas’ top post in 2017, Haniyeh commuted between Turkey and Doha, avoiding travel restrictions to the Gaza Strip.
In May, the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor’s office requested arrest warrants against three Hamas leaders, including Haniyeh, as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes. Israeli and Palestinian leaders have rejected the charges.
Israel has announced that an airstrike it carried out last month killed Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif in Gaza. Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied Deif’s death.
Hezbollah said its senior military commander Fuad Shukr was killed in an Israeli attack on a building in Beirut on Tuesday and vowed a “definite” response to his killing.