DOHA – Thousands of people on Friday attended the funeral prayer for the late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh at Doha’s grand mosque amid tight security.

Haniyeh’s funeral prayer was attended by various Palestinian factions, diaspora groups, diplomatic dignitaries and nationals from many countries. He was laid to rest at Lusail royal cemetery north of the capital Doha on Friday afternoon.

Symbolic funeral prayers for Haniyeh have been organised in several Muslim countries, including Yemen, Jordan and Turkey. Streams of mourners started to arrive at the Imam Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Mosque at about 9am, more than two hours before the Friday prayer, to bid farewell to the Hamas political chief who was assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Men and women, many of them wearing the keffiyeh, the traditional Palestinian scarf, and carrying Palestinian flags, came to attend the funeral prayers despite Doha’s punishing heat, which hovered around 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit). His body was brought to Doha on Thursday after a memorial event in Tehran, which was attended by thousands of people and where funeral prayers were led by the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranians waved Palestinian flags and carried pictures of the 62-year-old Hamas leader as they took part in the funeral procession.

Haniyeh, who was the diplomatic face of Hamas based in Qatar, was assassinated in his accommodation in Tehran. He was in the Iranian capital to attend the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Israel has not publicly claimed responsibility. Fuad Shukr, a senior commander with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, was also killed by Israel hours before Haniyeh’s assassination.

Hassan Abu Dhr, who lost his leg and hand in an Israeli bombing on Gaza’s Bureij refugee camp in November, came to the funeral prayer to pay tribute to Haniyeh. “We are in grief. We feel so sad because of his killing. He was like our father,” the 24-year-old, who was evacuated to Qatar for medical treatment, told Al Jazeera. “Ismail Haniyeh was the pride of Gaza. We trusted him, he was the best leader for Gaza.” (Al Jazeera) …[+]