Middle East on edge after Haniyeh killed in Israeli attack
TEHRAN
Hamas' political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli strike in Iran on Wednesday, escalating tensions in the Middle East and prompted heightened global concern.
The burial of the Hamas chief is to be held in Doha on Friday a day after a public funeral ceremony in Tehran, the Palestinian group said Wednesday.
Hamas said in a statement that an "official and public" funeral ceremony would be held in Tehran on Thursday before his body is transported to Doha for a Friday burial of "the martyr leader of the movement."
Hamas earlier vowed the act "will not go unanswered," as its armed wing said Wednesday that the killing of its political leader takes the war with Israel to a "new levels," warning of repercussions for the entire region.
"This assassination ... takes the war to new levels and will have enormous consequences for the entire region," the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, whose fighters are engaged in fierce battles with Israeli troops in Gaza, said in a statement.
Israel declined to comment on the Tehran strike, which came after it struck a Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut on Tuesday, targeting a senior commander of the Lebanese militant group it blamed for a deadly weekend rocket strike on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.
Hamas political bureau member Musa Abu Marzuk vowed the group would retaliate. "The assassination of leader Ismail Haniyeh is a cowardly act and will not go unanswered," he said.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei too threatened "harsh punishment" for Haniyeh's killing, saying: "We consider it our duty to seek revenge for his blood as he was martyred in the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran."
Iran's Revolutionary Guards also announced the death, saying Haniyeh's residence in Tehran was hit and he was killed along with a bodyguard.
Iranian media said the strike that killed Haniyeh took place at around 2:00 am (2230 GMT), targeting "the special residences for war veterans in north Tehran" where he was staying.
Haniyeh had travelled to Tehran to attend Tuesday's swearing-in of President Masoud Pezeshkian.
On Wednesday, Pezeshkian vowed to make Israel "regret" Haniyeh's killing.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran will defend its territorial integrity, honour, pride and dignity, and make the terrorist invaders regret their cowardly action," Pezeshkian said in a post.
'Set the region ablaze'
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas condemned Haniyeh's killing as a "cowardly act". Palestinians factions in the Israeli-occupied West Bank called for a general strike and protest marches across the territory.
Iran ally Syria warned the strike could "set the region ablaze".
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan condemned the "perfidious assassination" of the Hamas leader.
U.S .Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that a ceasefire in Gaza was still the "imperative".
Speaking at a forum in Singapore, Blinken refused to comment directly on the killing of Haniyeh, but he said reaching a ceasefire in Gaza "is the enduring imperative".
Egyptian, Qatari and U.S. mediators had met with Israeli negotiators in Rome on Sunday in their latest push for a deal as international pressure for a ceasefire mounts.
Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani cast doubt on the success of future mediation between Israel and Hamas following the killing of the Palestinian group's political chief.
Russia said it was a "completely unacceptable political assassination" that would "lead to a further escalation of tensions."
Australia's defense minister warned of "profound" risks for further escalation in the Middle East.
Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas in retaliaton for its Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.
The attack launched by Hamas on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli figures.
Hamas also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,400 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, mostly women and children.
Regional tensions have soared during the war, drawing in Iran-backed militant groups in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.
Haniyeh was elected head of the Hamas political bureau in 2017 to succeed Khaled Meshaal.
He was already a well-known figure having become Palestinian prime minister in 2006 following an upset victory by Hamas in that year's parliamentary election.
Considered a pragmatist, Haniyeh lived in exile and split his time between Türkiye and Qatar.
He had travelled on diplomatic missions to Iran and Türkiye during the war, meeting both the Turkish and Iranian presidents.
Haniyeh was said to maintain good relations with the heads of the various Palestinian factions, including rivals to Hamas.
He joined Hamas in 1987 when the militant group was founded amid the outbreak of the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation, which lasted until 1993.
