DOHA: Funeral ceremonies for Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh were held in Qatar as commemorations also took place in countries including Turkey, Lebanon, Yemen, Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia.
On Friday, thousands gathered at Doha’s Imam Muhammad ibn Abdul al-Wahhab Mosque to join ritual prayers ahead of the Palestinian group’s political chief burial in Lusail, north of the Qatari capital.
Representatives of other Palestinian factions and members of the public attended the events in the city, where Haniyeh had lived along with members of Hamas’s political office. His family was at the funeral amid tight security measures at Qatar’s national mosque.
The atmosphere was one of grief and solidarity for Palestinians in Gaza.
Amid tight security, mourners gathered in the national mosque’s compound hours before Friday noon prayers began to pay their respects to Haniyeh, who lived in Doha for the past several years.
He was a prominent member of the movement for more than 20 years. His legacy in the Palestinian struggle for statehood and freedom from Israeli occupation was undeniable, according to many who were at the mosque.
"Israel has killed almost 40,000 Palestinians in the last 300 days. Haniyeh was one of them. We will remember each and every life that was snuffed out by this genocide,” said Ahmed, a Palestinian living in Doha.
"We will resist and we will live to see a free Palestine,” he added.
Israel has not offered any comment on the assassination but after the October 7 incursion into southern Israel, which was led by Hamas and during which 1,139 people were killed, Israeli officials promised to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders as part of a stated aim to crush the group.
Black, white, green and red – the colours of the Palestinian flag – dotted the large gathering of men, women and children.
There was anger amid the mourning over the impunity of Israel’s actions.
"Look how a Palestinian leader was assassinated in a foreign country, is there any international law that will hold the Israelis accountable? All the global organisations are exposed, they are meaningless, tear them down if they cannot stop this genocide of Palestinians,” said Mohammad Abid, 45, before he entered the mosque.
The killing of Haniyeh, which Hamas, Iran and others have blamed on Israel, came hours after Israeli forces struck a southern suburb of Beirut, killingFuad Shukr, the military commander of the Iran-aligned Lebanese group Hezbollah. Israel has taken responsibility for this attack.
In Gaza, Hamas called for a "day of furious rage” to protest against the assassination and Israel’s deadliest war on Gaza which since October 7 has killed almost 40,000 people.
Turkey and Pakistan have announced a day of mourning in honour of the Hamas leader.
Thousands gathered at the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque in Istanbul to pay their respects to Haniyeh during the Friday prayer. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was expected to address the event but his visit was cancelled at the last minute.
The Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv lowered its flag to half-staff, drawing the ire of Israeli officials. Far-right National Security MinisterItamar Ben-Gvirresponded on X to the move, saying, "Representatives of the Turkish Embassy in Israel are invited to take down the flag completely and return home.”
Israel’s foreign ministry summoned the deputy Turkish ambassador for a reprimand.
"The State of Israel will not tolerate expressions of mourning for a murderer like Ismail Haniyeh,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.
A symbolic funeral was held in Lebanon’s capital Beirut as anger boiled over the killings of Hezbollah’s Shukr and Haniyeh.
"The feeling here is that we could see an escalation because the [Iran-aligned] "axis of resistance” groups are promising a response,” said Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led apublic funeral ceremonyfor Haniyeh in Tehran on Thursday, before the coffin was transported to Doha. He earlier threatened "harsh punishment” for Haniyeh’s killing.
Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari said a special committee that includes Iran’s intelligence forces, the Revolutionary Guards and police forces was formed to investigate the assassination, which was "one of the biggest intelligence and security failures in the country’s recent history”.