Ismail Haniyeh, the political head of Hamas, was killed in a strike in Tehran that was attributed to Israel. On Thursday, Iran held funeral processions for him. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic, has threatened a “harsh punishment” for Haniyeh’s killing and will lead the prayers for him before his burial in Doha.
An AFP correspondent reports that on Thursday morning, mourning crowds bearing Palestinian flags and posters of Haniyeh assembled at Tehran University in the heart of the capital.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announced Haniyeh’s passing the previous day, stating that he and his bodyguard perished in an attack on their lodging in the Iranian capital at 2:00 am (2230 GMT) on Wednesday.
It happened just hours after Israel struck the Lebanese capital of Beirut in retaliation, killing top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr and raising fears of a wider regional conflict.
Following Haniyeh’s passing, Khamenei, who holds the ultimate say in Iranian political matters, declared that it was “our duty to seek revenge for his blood as he was martyred in the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran”.
The head of Hamas was in Tehran on Tuesday to attend the inauguration of Masoud Pezeshkian, the recently elected president. The Zionists (Israel) will soon see the consequences of their cowardly and terrorist act,” the Iranian president declared on Wednesday.
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