(Doha) Thousands of worshipers prayed Friday at a large mosque in Doha, Qatar, in homage to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, as Iran and its allies prepare their response to his assassination attributed to Israel.
Ismail Haniyeh, assassinated on Wednesday in Tehran, was later buried in a cemetery in Lusail, near Doha, during a private ceremony, his family announced on X.
The Hamas political leader, who lived in exile in Qatar, played a key role in indirect negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement for a truce in the Gaza war.
Qatar, the main negotiating country, has questioned the viability of this mediation after his assassination, which sparked calls for revenge.
Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah have accused Israel of the assassination, which came a day after an Israeli strike killed the military leader of the Lebanese Islamist movement, Fouad Choukr, near Beirut.
The two attacks fuel fears of an extension of the war between Israel on the one hand and Iran and the groups it supports in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen on the other.
“Inevitable response”
In Jerusalem, the imam of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, was arrested on suspicion of “terrorism” after calling the Hamas leader a “martyr” in his Friday sermon, according to his lawyer.
Ismail Haniyeh, 61, was killed by an “air projectile”, according to Iranian media, in a residence reserved for veterans in Tehran, after attending the inauguration ceremony of the Iranian president.
According to the Israeli army, however, the only strike carried out that night in the Middle East was the one in Beirut.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has threatened Israel with an “inevitable response.”
The Shiite movement, allied with Hamas, has been exchanging fire almost daily with the Israeli army along the Israeli-Lebanese border since the start of the war in Gaza, triggered by the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian movement against Israel on October 7.
The head of the UN peacekeeping force, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, called for de-escalation on Friday during a visit to Lebanon, warning of the “risk of a wider conflagration”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel was at a “very high level” of preparedness for any scenario, “both defensive and offensive.”
In a phone call with Netanyahu on Thursday, US President Joe Biden “reaffirmed his commitment to Israel’s security against all threats from Iran, including from terrorist proxy groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis” in Yemen, according to the US office.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who received his British counterpart John Healey on Friday, “stressed the importance of establishing a coalition for the defense of Israel against Iran and its proxies,” according to his office.
“The UK is pressing for an end to the fighting and the Defence Secretary spoke in Tel Aviv on the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages and increased aid to the Palestinians,” a statement from London said.
France on Friday called on its nationals passing through Iran to leave the country “as soon as possible” due to an “increased” risk of military escalation.
For its part, the Israeli army said on Friday that it had “successfully intercepted a suspicious air target that crossed the north of the Golan from Lebanon.”
In the evening, she said that “at least 18 projectiles had been fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel”, without any injuries being reported.
“Two scenarios”
On Thursday, thousands of mourners attended Haniyeh’s official funeral in Tehran. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatened Israel with “severe punishment.”
Iranian officials met in Tehran on Wednesday with representatives of allied groups to coordinate their positions, according to a source close to Hezbollah.
“Two scenarios were discussed: a simultaneous response from Iran and its allies or a staggered response from each party,” according to the source.
The Israeli army is meanwhile continuing its offensive in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, in power since 2007, which it considers a terrorist organization, as do the United States and the European Union.
Airstrikes targeted the northern city of Gaza, killing at least four Palestinians, including a girl, according to the Civil Defense. Artillery fire killed a woman in Khan Younis in the south, according to medics.
The army announced that it had “eliminated 30 terrorists” in the Rafah area, also in the south.
The attack carried out on October 7 by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza into southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
Of the 251 people abducted, 111 are still being held in Gaza, 39 of whom have died, according to the army.
In response, Israel launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip that has so far killed 39,480 people, according to data from the Gaza government’s health ministry, which does not provide details on the number of civilians and combatants killed.
Nearly two-thirds of buildings in the Gaza Strip have been damaged or destroyed since the start of the war, the UN satellite centre UNOSAT said on Friday.