Hamas Leader Haniyeh Buried In Qatar

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. (Wikimedia Commons/council.gov.ru)

JAKARTA - Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh will be buried in Qatar today after his assassination in Iran's capital, Tehran.

Haniyeh will be buried in the cemetery after the funeral prayer in the city of Lusail, north of the Qatar capital, Doha.

Members of the politburo Hamas Izzat al-Rishq called on people to pray for their spirits in all mosques around the world.

"Let today, Friday, be an extraordinary day of anger that condemns the crime of murder and rejects genocide in the Gaza Strip," he said.

Haniyeh was killed by a missile that hit him directly at a state guesthouse in Tehran where he was staying, senior Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya said at a news conference.

Iran and Hamas both accused Israel of the killings and promised to retaliate against their enemies.

Israel has not yet claimed responsibility for the death or denied it.

The attack was one of several attacks that killed senior figures in Hamas or the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, sparking fears that the war in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian militants would turn into a regional conflict stretching from the Red Sea to the Lebanese-Israeli border and its surroundings.

In the United States, US President Joe Biden said Haniyeh's assassination did not help international efforts to ensure a ceasefire in the war in Gaza, which is now entering its 10th month.

"That doesn't help," Biden told reporters on Thursday, when asked if the move undermined ceasefire opportunities.

Meanwhile, Qatar has led a joint peace effort between Egypt and the United States, Israel's main ally.