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IRAN’S Ayatollah wept over the coffin of his assassinated Hamas ally Ismail Haniyeh just hours after ordering a revenge strike on Israel.
The dictator led a funeral prayer for the terror group’s political boss after Israel bombed him while he slept in a secure military compound.
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The Supreme Leader cried as he stood beside the coffin of his ally and his slain bodyguard as a crowd chants “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”.
The funeral came just hours after Khamenei pledged to take revenge and issued an order for a “direct attack on Israel“.
He said: “Revenge is our duty and Israel has prepared a harsh punishment for itself by killing a dear guest in our home.”
He earlier said Iran had a “duty to avenge” the assassination and promised to “severely punish the Zionist Entity”.
Haniyeh’s killing also could see Hamas to pull out of negotiations for a cease-fire and hostage release deal in the 10-month-old war in Gaza, which US mediators had said were making progress.
Haniyeh, who lives in Qatar, has been the tough-talking face of Hamas’ international diplomacy as the group has held on to Israeli hostages in tunnels below Gaza.
The killing has inflamed tensions between Israel and Iran, which international diplomats were trying to contain after a weekend rocket attack by their proxy Hezbollah killed 12 kids in the Golan Heights.
Haniyeh was in Tehran to attend the swearing-in of new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday.
Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence arm discovered exactly which room Haniyeh was sleeping in within scores also in the block.
A guided missile was then fired through the window of his room and detonated inside, killing him and his aide instantly.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his country last night it had delivered a “crushing blow” with the double assassination.
He said that challenging days lie ahead for the country as it prepares for a response from its enemies.
“We are prepared for any scenario and we will stand united and determined.”
Hamas said Haniyeh was killed “in a Zionist airstrike on his residence in Tehran after he participated in the inauguration of Iran’s new president”.
Hamas also vowed Haniyeh’s death “will not go unpunished” and described the strike as a “severe escalation”.
Killing could ignite wider conflict
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said the assassination escalated the “war in Gaza to a regional level”.
They said: “If the international community does not take action to stop Israel, our region will face much larger conflicts.”
Turkey’s comments came days after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to invade Israel.
Mohamed al-Hindi, a leading member of terror group Islamic Jihad, told Al Jazeera that the back-to-back killings will ignite a wider conflict in the region, AP reported.
He said the killings will bring out wider support from regionally aligned groups including Yemen, Iraq and other resistance movements.
Hezbollah said the killing of the Hamas boss would only “increase determination and stubbornness of resistance fighters across all resistance fronts”.
Al-Qassam Brigades said Israel will “pay the price for its aggression with its blood”.
Russia initially described the attack as “absolutely unacceptable” and asked parties to “exercise restraint” and abandon escalation.
But last night former President Dmitry Medvedev said: “a full-scale war is the only way to a shaky peace in the region.”
Qatar’s foreign ministry said the killing was a “heinous crime” and a “flagrant violation of international and humanitarian law”.
Qatar had been hosting unsuccessful peace talks between Israel and Hamas – but it remains unclear how the death would affect any settlement.
China, meanwhile, said it was “deeply concerned” there could be more regional instability.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened the country’s security chiefs at 10am UK time in response to the killing.
Israel has not officially attacked Iran since April when it blew up an air defence system in a tit-for-tat exchange with the Islamic Republic.
That strike followed Iran attacking Israel with more than 300 missiles and drones – the first ever direct attack from Iran to Israel.
Who was Ismail Haniyeh?
By Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter
Haniyeh, one of the founding members of the terror group, unflinchingly represented the bloodthirsty clan for decades, even past the death of his own children.
The 62-year-old was responsible for running Hamas’ political operations from Doha, Qatar’s capital.
Born in a refugee camp in northern Gaza, he lead the group through several wars with Israel and served as a fundamental power player for the cult.
Over the last ten months he had been responsible for conducting ceasefire talks, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US.
He survived an Israeli assassination attempt in 2003, before the IDF took out his mentor – the founder of Hamas itself Sheik Ahmed Yassin – in 2004.
Standing outside a hospital in Gaza at the time, the man who would become one of Hamas’ principal leaders urged people not to cry but to focus on revenge instead.
By 2006 he was working as the leader of Hamas in Gaza, a position now held by Israel’s number one enemy – Yahya Sinwar.
He moved to Qatar in 2017 when he was named as the group’s new political leader.
The group was trying to change its image at the time as it made bids across the international stage for more influence.
Haniyeh represented the Iran-backed terror proxy in Qatar, Turkey, Lebanon, Iran and Egypt.
His ruthless approach to furthering the Hamas agenda would overrule even the assassination of his own children and grandchildren years later.
In April this year an Israeli airstrike killed three of Haniyeh’s sons and four of his grandchildren.
In June, Hamas claimed his sister and her family were also killed by an Israeli strike.
Haniyeh simply said at the time: “We shall not give in, no matter the sacrifices.”
He added that he had lost dozens of family members over years of war between Hamas and Israel.
The terror boss was given news of his children’s deaths while on a hospital visit. After hearing the news, he continued to tour the building as normal.
Haniyeh spent time inside Israeli prisons in the 1980s and 1990s.
By 1988 he was among the founding members of Hamas, working under Yassin.
His assassination serves as a fundamental blow to Hamas – with leaders dubbing it a “treacherous Zionist raid” on Wednesday morning.
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Haniyeh was the political leader of Hamas and succeeded the group’s founder
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