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Slain Hamas Leader Haniyeh Buried in Qatar Amid Vows of Revenge Against Israel
Mourners carry the coffin of assassinated Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh during his funeral ceremony in Tehran, Iran, Aug. 1, 2024. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency) Handout via REUTERS
Hamas’ top leader Ismail Haniyeh was buried in Qatar on Friday following his assassination in the Iranian capital Tehran, and his possible successor told mourners his death would only make the Palestinian terrorist group more determined in its war against Israel.
Haniyeh’s death was one in a series of killings of senior Hamas figures as the war in Gaza between Hamas and Israel nears its 11th month and concern grows that the conflict is spreading across the Middle East.
Hamas and Iran have both accused Israel of carrying out the assassination and have pledged to retaliate against their foe. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the death nor denied it.
Haniyeh was laid to rest in a cemetery in the city of Lusail after a funeral ceremony at the Iman Mohamed Ibn Abd Al-Wahhab Mosque in Qatar’s capital Doha.
His coffin, draped in the Palestinian flag, was carried in a procession past hundreds of people along with the casket of his bodyguard, who was killed in the same attack in Tehran on Wednesday.
Mourners at the ceremony included Khaled Meshaal, who is tipped to be the new Hamas leader. Other senior Hamas officials and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani also attended.
Speaking at the mosque, where Haniyeh’s body was laid for prayers, Meshaal said his death would only make the group more determined to continue its fight for a “free Palestine.” There would be no concessions over its principles and no recognition of Israel, he said.
“Palestine will remain from the river to the sea … and the Zionists [Israel] have no place on the land of Palestine, regardless of how many they kill of us,” Meshaal said in a video released by Hamas.
Haniyeh’s death was a big loss to the Islamist terror group but it would not alter their course, he said.
“Our enemies don’t learn the lesson, they have been killing our leaders for over 100 years, what happened? When a leader ascends [to heaven] another leader comes,” he said.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters by phone: “Our message to the occupation [Israel] today is that you are sinking deep in the mud and your end is getting closer than ever. The blood of Haniyeh will change all equations.”
Haniyeh was killed by a missile that hit him directly in a state guesthouse in Tehran where he was staying, senior Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya said in Tehran.
The strike was one of several recent hits that have killed senior figures in Hamas or the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah in a conflict that is now stretching from Gaza to the Red Sea and the Lebanon-Israel border and beyond. Hamas and Hezbollah are both backed by Iran, which provides the internationally designated terrorist organizations with weapons, funding, and training.
In the United States, US President Joe Biden said Haniyeh’s killing was not helpful to international efforts to secure a ceasefire in the war in Gaza.
“It doesn’t help,” Biden told reporters on Thursday, when asked if the action ruined the chances of a truce.
Qatar, which hosts several top Hamas officials, has been leading the peace effort along with Egypt and the United States, Israel‘s main ally.
Haniyeh, who was on the US State Department’s Specially Designated Global Terrorists list, played a leading role in Gaza ceasefire negotiations amid Israel’s military offensive in the Palestinian enclave.
Appointed to the Hamas top job in 2017, Haniyeh moved between Turkey and Doha, escaping the travel curbs of the blockaded Gaza Strip.
Israel has announced that an air strike it mounted last month assassinated Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif in Gaza. Hamas has not confirmed or denied the death of Deif.
Hezbollah said that its senior military commander Fuad Shukr had been killed in an Israeli strike on a building in Beirut on Tuesday and it vowed a “definite” response to his killing.
The post Slain Hamas Leader Haniyeh Buried in Qatar Amid Vows of Revenge Against Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.