Doha, Qatar – Hundreds of individuals on Friday attended the funeral prayer for the late Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh at Doha’s grand mosque amid tight safety.
Haniyeh’s funeral prayer was attended by numerous Palestinian factions, diaspora teams, diplomatic dignitaries and nationals from many international locations. He was laid to relaxation at Lusail royal cemetery north of the capital Doha on Friday afternoon.
Symbolic funeral prayers for Haniyeh have been organised in a number of Muslim international locations, together with Yemen, Jordan and Turkey.
Streams of mourners began to reach on the Imam Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Mosque at about 9am, greater than two hours earlier than the Friday prayer, to bid farewell to the Hamas political chief who was assassinated within the Iranian capital Tehran within the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Women and men, a lot of them sporting the keffiyeh, the standard Palestinian scarf, and carrying Palestinian flags, got here to attend the funeral prayers regardless of Doha’s punishing warmth, which hovered round 45 levels Celsius (113 levels Fahrenheit).
His physique was delivered to Doha on Thursday after a memorial event in Tehran, which was attended by hundreds of individuals and the place funeral prayers had been led by the nation’s Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranians waved Palestinian flags and carried photos of the 62-year-old Hamas chief as they took half within the funeral procession.
Haniyeh, who was the diplomatic face of Hamas based mostly in Qatar, was assassinated in his lodging in Tehran. He was within the Iranian capital to attend the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Israel has not publicly claimed duty. Fuad Shukr, a senior commander with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, was additionally killed by Israel hours earlier than Haniyeh’s assassination.
Tributes
Hassan Abu Dhr, who misplaced his leg and hand in an Israeli bombing on Gaza’s Bureij refugee camp in November, got here to the funeral prayer to pay tribute to Haniyeh.
“We’re in grief. We really feel so unhappy due to his killing. He was like our father,” the 24-year-old, who was evacuated to Qatar for medical remedy, instructed Al Jazeera. “Ismail Haniyeh was the pleasure of Gaza. We trusted him, he was the perfect chief for Gaza.”
Syed Ziaullah, a Pakistani nationwide, additionally attended the funeral prayers.
“I got here right here for him; it’s a relationship of brotherhood amongst Muslims,” Ziaullah instructed Al Jazeera. “He’s a martyr and a patriot who struggled to free Palestine from Israeli occupation.”
Others who had been in attendance had been from completely different international locations together with Sudan, India and Bangladesh.
Many individuals Al Jazeera spoke to expressed solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, who’ve been dealing with Israeli bombardment for the previous 10 months. Huge swaths of Gaza have been flattened and practically 40,000 folks have been killed since October 7, when Israel launched its army offensive within the wake of a Hamas-led assault inside its territory. Not less than 1,100 folks had been killed through the assault in southern Israel.
“I’m right here in assist of Palestine and in assist of our people who find themselves dealing with genocide for the previous 300 days. I’m right here I as a result of am unhappy for the loss of life of Ismail Haniyeh and for the loss of life of [Al Jazeera’s] Ismail al-Ghoul and his colleague Rami al-Rifi,” 32-year-old Sara Abdelshafy instructed Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Ismail al-Ghoul and cameraman Rami al-Rifi had been killed in an Israeli assault in northern Gaza on Wednesday.
‘All the way down to earth’
Haniyeh was a distinguished determine and thought of accessible and approachable by many in Gaza.
Haniyeh’s recognition partly got here from the truth that he embodied a typical Palestinian within the Gaza Strip, mentioned Fathi Nimer, a Palestine coverage fellow at Al-Shabaka, a assume tank based mostly within the occupied West Financial institution.
“He was a refugee born within the Shati refugee camp … most Palestinians are refugees, particularly these in Gaza. His household was ethnically cleansed from Asqalan [Ashkelon, in present-day Israel]. What made him very relatable to folks is that he went to a UNRWA [United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East] college and labored to assist his household,” Nimer instructed Al Jazeera.
“Folks discuss him about being very humble and a really down-to-earth individual,” he added.
Haniyeh joined Hamas as a pupil and rose by way of the ranks to change into Palestine’s solely democratically elected prime minister in 2006 on the age of 44.
Regardless of residing outdoors of Gaza since 2019, he was not shielded from the devastation of Israel’s conflict. About 60 members of his family have been killed, together with three of his sons in April, in addition to his grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
“By the blood of the martyrs and the ache of the injured, we create hope, we create the long run, we create independence and freedom for our folks and our nation,” he mentioned in April.
Haniyeh was a prime negotiator within the efforts to safe a ceasefire in Gaza.
“Haniyeh was described as a average and a pragmatist — somebody who might plan for the long run and somebody who might negotiate and take care of nuances of negotiations,” Nimer mentioned.
Haniyeh’s killing, he added, “can have undoubtedly adverse penalties for the [ceasefire] negotiations”.
Israel has assassinated quite a few leaders from Hamas, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, and different Palestinian teams up to now. Haniyeh had himself escaped an Israeli assassination try in 2003 alongside along with his mentor Sheikh Ahmed Yasin, the Hamas non secular chief and founder.
Nimer mentioned the latest assassinations might backfire on Israel. “At any time when somebody is assassinated, as an alternative of killing their reminiscence, they make them right into a martyr – a hero for all of the folks,” he instructed Al Jazeera.