MASS demonstrations were held across Palestine and throughout the Arab world yesterday after Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated by Israel in the Iranian capital, Tehran, overnight on Tuesday.
Flags are being flown at half-mast in all official Palestinian institutions and a general strike is being held across the West Bank.
Abdul Salam Haniyeh, a son of Ismail Haniyeh, vowed that Palestinians ‘will fight until freedom is achieved’ and said that his father had ‘strived for the unity of all Palestinian factions.’
He declared that as a senior Hamas leader his father had survived four assassination attempts and: ‘Allah has granted him the martyrdom that he always wished for.’
Ismael Haniyeh was in Tehran to attend the swearing-in ceremony of President Masoud Pezeshkian which took place on Tuesday.
The Palestinian national forces announced a general strike and held massive rallies in condemnation of the assassination of Haniyeh.
Hamas issued a press statement on Wednesday, stressing that ‘this cowardly assassination will not break the will and steadfastness of our people, but will increase their determination to move forward through adhering to their rights and national constants until freedom and independence.’
The President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas strongly condemned the assassination of the head of the Hamas Movement, dubbing it ‘a cowardly act and a dangerous development’.
Abbas called on the masses of the Palestinian people and its forces to unite, be patient and steadfast in the face of the Israeli occupation.
The Palestinian government condemned Haniyeh’s assassination and called on the factions, forces and all the Palestinian people to cling to further national unity and steadfastness in the face of the occupation and its crimes.
The Palestinian National Liberation Movement Fatah said that Haniyeh’s assassination is a heinous crime and a cowardly act and that ‘the Israeli policy of assassinations will not break the will of our people to achieve their national rights to freedom and independence’.
The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine mourned ‘the great national leader, the head of Hamas, the martyr Ismail Haniyeh’ and said his assassination ‘will not deter our people from continuing the resistance until an end is put to the Zionist crimes that have crossed all limits’.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said: ‘The Commander Ismail Haniyeh followed the path of the martyrs in the battle to defend the Palestinian existence in the face of the Zionist genocide.’
The Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative Movement, Mustafa Barghouti, said: ‘We condemn the occupation army’s perpetration of this heinous crime. This heinous crime will only increase the Palestinian people and their valiant resistance’s determination to continue the struggle and fight for freedom, dignity, and the right to self-determination.
‘The Palestinian people lost today a valiant, struggling leader who was always distinguished by his patriotism, integrity, and honesty, and by his sincere concern for national unity and protecting the interests of the Palestinian people.’
Russia declared that it was ‘an absolutely unacceptable political assassination’.
Iran announced three days of national mourning with the Iranian administration making the announcement in a statement reminding that the atrocity had been committed in violation of all humanitarian principles and international laws against a senior resistance figure who had travelled to the Islamic Republic as an official guest.
The development, the administration noted, served as ‘another indication of the terrorist nature of the Zionist regime and the fact that no place on the face of the earth is safe from the evil acts of this corrupt and irredeemable’ entity.
Iranian Leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, warned the Israeli regime of a ‘harsh response’ for the assassination, saying ‘it is the Islamic Republic’s duty to avenge the blood of the Palestinian resistance leader’.
