Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, prayed over Haniyeh’s coffin in a ceremony that — in another sign of the weight Tehran has given to the Palestinian cause and the constellation of anti-Israeli militant groups it backs across the region — was also joined by the country’s president and parliament speaker.
Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official who like Haniyeh was visiting the Iranian capital for the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian at the time of the attack, said that Hamas and its fellow militant groups would remain united against Israel.
“The path of resistance will continue and Haniyeh’s blood will not be [spilled] in vain,” he told the crowd.
Meanwhile, supporters were expected to gather Thursday afternoon in Beirut for the funeral of Fuad Shukr, a top military commander for Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group that like Hamas is backed by Iran. In a statement Wednesday, the group said leader Hasan Nasrallah would outline Hezbollah’s “political stance on this sinful attack and major crime” in a speech during the funeral.
Israel has claimed responsibility for the airstrike that killed Shukr in a crowded Beirut suburb on Tuesday, describing it as revenge for a cross-border attack that killed a group of children and teenagers on a soccer field in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights days earlier. Hezbollah denies any role in the strike.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, without mentioning Haniyeh, touted Israel’s recent military actions and said his country had dealt “crushing blows” to Hamas, Hezbollah and other Iranian allies — though he warned that Israel must continue its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, now approaching the one-year mark.
Also Thursday, Israel’s military announced that it had killed Hamas’s military commander, Mohammed Deif, ending weeks of speculation about whether its July 13 strike in the Gaza Strip had achieved its objective. The strike targeting Deif deepened global criticism of Israel’s Gaza operation after it killed at least 90 people, according to Palestinian authorities, in an area designated by Israel as a safe zone for civilians.
Together, the recent operations underscored Israel’s willingness and ability to target adversaries beyond its borders, including deep in hostile territory — and suggested that Netanyahu’s government, like the leaders of Iran and its militant allies, is unlikely to heed calls from the United States and other outside powers to put the ongoing cycle of violence to rest.
The recent exchanges may create further strains in Israel’s dealings with the United States, its chief ally, which for months has urged Netanyahu to wrap up the Gaza campaign and do what is required to reach a deal with Hamas that would usher in a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of remaining hostages taken on Oct. 7.
Analysts have suggested the killing of Haniyeh, who served as a top negotiator for Hamas, could jeopardize negotiations to stop the fighting in Gaza.
Speaking during a visit to Mongolia, Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a demand to “all parties” in the Gaza conflict to stop taking escalatory actions, a message clearly aimed at Israel a day after Haniyeh’s killing in Tehran.
Blinken did not call out Israel by name, nor did he acknowledge that Israel had killed Haniyeh, but it still amounted to the angriest denunciation of Israeli actions by a senior U.S. leader after the dual killings of major Israeli foes.
Asked whether the United States had issued Israel a “blank check” to conduct operations in the Middle East, Blinken — who has typically been upbeat about his efforts to halt the fighting — offered an unusually glum assessment of the situation.
“Right now, the path that the region is on is for more conflicts, more violence, more suffering, more insecurity, and it is crucial that we break the cycle. And that starts with a cease-fire,” Blinken told reporters in the Mongolian capital.
“To get there, it also first requires all parties to stop taking any escalatory actions. It also requires them to find reasons to come to an agreement, not to look for reasons to delay or say no to the agreement,” Blinken said.
“And it’s urgent that all parties make the right choices in the days ahead. Because those choices are the difference between staying on this path of violence, of insecurity, of suffering, or moving to something very different and much better for all parties concerned.”
Blinken, who has been touring Asia for more than a week, said that he had spent the past 24 hours on the phone with Middle Eastern leaders to try to salvage the cease-fire efforts.
The Biden administration has faced intense domestic criticism, including from within President Biden’s own Democratic Party, for its support of Israel, even as the Gaza war has generated intense friction between Washington and Tel Aviv. Netanyahu’s visit to Washington last week, where he gave a fiery address to the U.S. Congress, highlighted those strains.
Blinken said Wednesday that the Biden administration had received no forewarning of the Haniyeh attack.
George reported from Dubai and Birnbaum from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Kareem Fahim in Beirut and Lior Soroka in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.
