Hamas calls for ‘day of rage’ for group leader’s burial

DOHA (AFP): Palestinian militant group Hamas called for a “day of furious rage” on Friday, coinciding with the burial of its slain leader Ismail Haniyeh in Qatar.

Hamas in a statement on Thursday encouraged an outpouring of public anger following Haniyeh’s killing in Tehran in an attack blamed on Israel, as well as to protest the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

“Let roaring anger marches start from every mosque” following Friday prayers, the group said.

Haniyeh, who resided in exile in Qatar with other members of Hamas’s political leadership, is to be buried in the Gulf state on Friday after a public funeral held Thursday in the Iranian capital.

Haniyeh and a bodyguard were killed Wednesday in a pre-dawn strike on their accommodation in Tehran, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said, in an attack that has stoked fears of a wider regional conflict.

Hamas called on “the masses of our revolutionary people in the occupied West Bank” to show their support for Palestinians in Gaza, “affirming our commitment to our land and national rights, and confronting the (Israeli) occupation’s plans.”

Crowds of mourners gathered in Tehran on Thursday during funeral events for the Hamas leader, with the Islamic republic’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei leading prayers.

The killing has prompted protests in Amman, where thousands of Jordanians gathered on Wednesday outside the Israeli embassy.

Demonstrations were also held in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and in Tunisia’s and Morocco’s capitals.