Thousands of people gathered at the Imam Muhammad bin Abdul al-Wahhab Mosque in the Qatari capital, Doha, for the funeral prayers of Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh.
The 62-year-old was assassinated in Iran along with his bodyguard on Wednesday in what the Palestinian group called “a treacherous Zionist raid”. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.
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.
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.