Thousands of worshipers prayed today at a large mosque in Doha, Qatar, in memory of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, as Iran and its allies prepare a response to his assassination attributed to Israel.
Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran on Wednesday, was then buried at the Lusail cemetery near Doha in a private ceremony, his family said on the X network.
The political leader of Hamas who lived in exile in Qatar also played a key role in indirect negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement trying to agree a ceasefire in the Gaza war.
Qatar, the main negotiating country, questioned its mediation after Hani's murder, which prompted calls for revenge.
Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah blamed Israel for the killing, which came a day after an Israeli strike killed the military leader of the Lebanese Islamist Hezbollah, Fouad Shukr, in a suburb of Beirut.
Those two attacks revived fears of the expansion of the war to the entire Middle East, with Israel on one side, and Iran and the groups it supports in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen on the other.
This morning, Hani's body was taken to Doha's largest mosque where worshipers wore the Palestinian flag or kufi before the coffin was taken to the cemetery.
Turkey and Pakistan declared a day of mourning.
Sixty-one-year-old Haniyeh was killed on Wednesday by an "air missile", local media reported, in one of the residences in the north of Tehran after attending the inauguration of Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian.
Iran, Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah have accused Israel of killing him, but the Israeli military says only one strike was carried out in the Middle East that night, killing Fouad Shukr, Hezbollah's military leader, in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
The New York Times, however, citing five anonymous officials of Middle Eastern countries, announced that Haniyeh was killed by a bomb in the residence hidden for two months where Haniyeh was staying protected by guards.
"Israel does not know what red lines it has crossed," Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said yesterday during Fuad Shukr's funeral, threatening Israel with an "inevitable response."
Last night, the organization announced that it had fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel.
Iran's Fars news agency insisted today that the results of the investigation established that Isamil Haniyeh was killed by a missile and that the role of the "Zionist regime in that case is undeniable."
Pro-Iranian Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, has exchanged fire with the Israeli army along the Lebanese border almost daily since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, triggered by a surprise attack on Israel by the Palestinian organization on October 7 last year.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatened Israel with severe punishment and said a prayer for the dead in front of the coffin of Haniyeh and his bodyguard draped in a Palestinian flag.
The Houthi rebels, also affiliated with Hamas, announced a military response to the "dangerous escalation".
The New York Times reports, citing three anonymous Iranian officials, that Khamenei, at an emergency meeting of the Supreme National Security Council on Wednesday, gave the order to attack Israel directly in response to the killing of Haniyeh.
(BETA)
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, killed Wednesday in Iran in an attack blamed on Israel, will be buried today in Qatar, where he lived in exile as Iran and its allies prepare to respond.
After an official funeral ceremony, accompanied by calls for revenge, which drew thousands of people in Tehran on Thursday, prayers at the largest mosque in the Qatari capital, Doha, will be led by Imam Muhammad Ben Abdel Wahab.
Hamas has called for a "day of rage" to mark the burial of the organization's political leader and demanded that "angry demonstrators leave the mosques" after Friday prayers.
Haniyeh, as announced by the Palestinian Islamist Hamas, will be buried in the Lusail cemetery in the north of the Qatari capital in the presence of Arab and Islamic leaders.
Turkey declared a day of national mourning.
Sixty-one-year-old Haniyeh was killed on Wednesday by an "air missile", local media reported, in one of the residences in the north of Tehran after attending the inauguration of Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian.
Iran, Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah have accused Israel of killing him, but the Israeli military says only one strike was carried out in the Middle East that night, killing Fouad Shukr, Hezbollah's military leader, in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
The New York Times, however, citing five anonymous officials from Middle Eastern countries, announced that Haniyeh was killed by a bomb hidden for two months in the residence where Haniyeh was staying protected by guards.
"Israel does not know what red lines it has crossed," Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said yesterday during Fuad Shukr's funeral, threatening Israel with an "inevitable response."
Last night, the organization announced that it had fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel.
Pro-Iranian Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, has exchanged fire with the Israeli army along the Lebanese border almost daily since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, triggered by a surprise attack on Israel by the Palestinian organization on October 7 last year.
The attacks in Tehran and Beirut have revived fears of a war spreading throughout the Middle East between Israel on the one hand and Iran and the organizations it supports in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen on the other.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatened Israel with severe punishment and said a prayer for the dead in front of the coffin of Haniyeh and his bodyguard draped in a Palestinian flag.
The Houthi rebels, also affiliated with Hamas, announced a military response to the "dangerous escalation".
The New York Times reports, citing three anonymous Iranian officials, that Khamenei, at an emergency meeting of the Supreme National Security Council on Wednesday, gave the order to attack Israel directly in response to Haniyeh's murder.
In Qatar, the political office of Hamas has been in agreement with the US since 2012, when the Palestinian organization closed its headquarters in Damascus.
Haniyeh played a key role in negotiations for a possible cease-fire in Gaza with Qatari mediators who doubt the continuation of those negotiations after the assassination.
The international community calls for restraint and working without a ceasefire.
Some analysts believe that the response from Iran and its allies should remain measured to avoid escalation.
"Iran and Hezbollah will not want to play Netanyahu's game and give him the bait or excuse he needs to drag the US into the war," said Hezbollah expert Amal Saad.
(BETA)
US President Joseph Biden said tonight that he is "very concerned" about the growing tensions in the Middle East and in a telephone conversation called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to quickly conclude a cease-fire agreement in the Gaza Strip.
"I am very concerned about this situation," Biden told reporters at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, where he welcomed American prisoners freed by Russia, France Press reported.
He added that the assassination in Iran of political leader Ismail Haniyeh "did not help the situation".
Israel is accused of the murder, but that country has neither confirmed nor proven that it was involved, according to Israeli media.
Biden said the conversation with Netanyahu was "very direct."
"We have a basis for a ceasefire. He (Netanyahu) should move on and everyone should move on now," Biden said, the Associated Press reported.
The White House said the US leader "reaffirmed his commitment to Israel's security against all threats from Iran, including (Iran's) allied terrorist organizations Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis."
US Vice President Kamala Harris also participated in the conversation.
Biden also discussed with Netanyahu efforts to get the US to support Israel's defense and the importance of reducing tensions in the region.
He also spoke about the new deployment of the US military against possible attacks by ballistic missiles and drones.
In April, US forces intercepted dozens of missiles and drones fired by Iran at Israel and helped shoot down almost all of them.
The two leaders spoke as Qatari and Egyptian mediators sought to salvage talks following the assassinations of Hamas' main political leader Haniyeh in Iran and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Lebanon.
Those killings have heightened fears of an escalation into a wider war, and now the region is waiting to see how Iran and Hezbollah respond.
(BETA)
The attack that cost the lives of seven humanitarian workers in the Gaza Strip on April 1 was the result of a "serious failure" by the Israeli army, according to an Australian government investigative report published today, Beta reports.
The inquiry, entrusted to former Air Force chief Mark Binskin, was commissioned by Canberra into the death of an Australian citizen in a series of three attacks that killed three Britons, a humanitarian with dual US-Canadian citizenship, a Pole and a Palestinian.
The seven victims worked for the American organization World Central Kitchen (WCK), founded by chef Jose Andres (Jose).
The Israeli army has admitted a series of mistakes at different levels.
The attack "was not knowingly or intentionally directed against the WCK," the report said, recalling that an internal investigation conducted by the Israeli military concluded that "a serious error resulted from a serious failure due to poor identification, errors in decision-making, and violations of rules of engagement and standard operating procedures".
According to the document, the Israeli army confused the humanitarian convoy with a convoy of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas because on the roof of one of the trucks was an apparently armed guard who worked for the WCK.
"Controls by the Israel Defense Forces appear to have lapses, leading to errors in decision-making and mistaken identification," the report said.
Binskin said that while an acknowledgment of Israel's responsibility for the deaths "has been made at many levels within the Israeli government" and a public apology has been issued by the Israeli military, "the families do not feel that this is an adequate apology at the appropriate level," the Guardian reports.
"Also, they do not feel confident that lessons have really been learned from the incident and that measures have been taken to reduce the chance of it happening again," Binskin said in the report.
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