The Middle East remains on edge over fears of an all-out war, with the burial of slain Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Qatar adding to the already tense situation. Haniyeh was laid to rest in a private ceremony in the Qatari capital Doha, attended by the country’s king, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
The funeral was held following a private ceremony, as reported by CNN. Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran in the early hours of Wednesday, according to Iran. He was in the Iranian capital to attend the swearing-in ceremony of President Masoud Pezeshkian and was killed just hours after the event. Both Iran and Hamas have accused Israel of being responsible for the assassination.
A day before the funeral in Doha, a large procession took place in Tehran, where thousands of Iranians poured onto the streets to mourn the terrorist leader. Supreme Leader Khamenei led the funeral prayers. As Haniyeh’s funeral was underway, Hamas called for a “day of overwhelming anger” against Israel. Iran, Hamas’s primary backer, has vowed to punish Israel for the assassination, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is reported to have ordered direct attacks on the country.
The assassination and the expected retaliation have raised concerns about the potential for a full-scale war between Israel and Iran, a conflict both sides have so far avoided.
Qatar, which hosts Hamas’s headquarters in Doha, has been facilitating talks between Israel and Hamas with support from the United States, aiming for a ceasefire and hostage release deal regarding the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. However, with the death of the key negotiator, Haniyeh, the future of the deal remains uncertain.
Haniyeh’s funeral was a much more subdued event compared to the procession in Tehran. His family requested a private ceremony, according to Arab media. The ceremony consisted of a brief prayer as two coffins, one containing Haniyeh’s remains and the other that of his bodyguard, who was also killed in the assassination, were laid at the front of a mosque. The coffins were draped with Palestinian flags.
During a sermon before the funeral prayers, the imam at the mosque declared that the Palestinian cause belonged to all Muslims, not just one ethnicity. “The Palestinian cause is not a cause of one people or ethnicity, or faction or organization, but it is the cause of a global community, the cause of all Muslims,” said the imam, as reported by The New York Times. The newspaper noted that mourners streamed into the mosque, many of whom wore Palestinian clothing. Among them were young men who appeared to be injured and wore patriotic Palestinian items, as observed by Raja Abdulrahim of The Times.
