Slain Hamas chief laid to rest in Qatar as escalation fears grow

DOHA, Qatar — Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was buried in Qatar on Friday after his killing in Tehran, an attack blamed on Israel that has heightened regional tensions as the Gaza war drags on.

Haniyeh was laid to rest in Lusail, north of the capital Doha, following funeral prayers at the Gulf emirate's largest mosque attended by thousands of people.

Haniyeh, the Palestinian militant group's political chief, played a key role in negotiations for an end to nearly 10 months of war between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip.

Mourners lined up inside Imam Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab Mosque, where Haniyeh's casket, draped in a Palestinian flag, was briefly carried in to the shouts of angry mourners.

Others prayed on mats outside in temperatures that reached 44 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit).

"He was a symbol, a resistance leader... people are angry," said Taher Adel, 25, a Jordanian student residing in the Qatari capital.

The burial was restricted to a small number of people including one of Haniyeh's daughters, Sara, who shared a video on social media showing her pouring holy water over a pebble-topped grave before lowering her head to kiss it.

Many mourners in Doha wore scarves that combined the Palestinian flag with a checkered keffiyeh pattern and the message in English: "Free Palestine".

In Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, a senior Palestinian Muslim cleric, 85-year-old Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, was detained on suspicion of inciting "terrorism" after calling Haniyeh a "martyr" in his sermon at the revered Al-Aqsa Mosque, his lawyer told AFP.

Fighting meanwhile continued in Hamas-ruled Gaza, where the civil defence agency reported several people killed in the territory's north, and the Israeli military said rockets were fired at Israel, causing no casualties.

Haniyeh and a bodyguard were killed in a pre-dawn "hit" on their accommodation in Tehran Wednesday, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said. Haniyeh was in Iran to attend the swearing-in of President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday.

Israel, accused by Hamas, Iran and others of the attack, has not directly commented on it.

The killing of Qatar-based Haniyeh is among a series of tit-for-tat attacks since April that have