![\"AFP](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/ccd6\/live\/81e60480-4fcd-11ef-b8a6-c9027db4120d.jpg.webp\")
AFP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\nThousands have turned out for the funeral procession in Iran of the Hamas political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in a strike in Tehran on Wednesday. <\/p>\n
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is leading the prayers before the Hamas leader is buried in Qatar. <\/p>\n
US media have quoted Iranian officials as saying the supreme leader has ordered a direct attack against Israel, which it says was responsible for the attack on Iranian soil. <\/p>\n
Israel has not commented on the assassination directly. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
However, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country had delivered \u201ccrushing blows\u201d to its enemies in recent days, including the killing of a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon hours before the Tehran strike.<\/p>\n
He warned Israelis that \u201cchallenging days lie ahead\u201d, as fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East grow.<\/p>\n
“Since the strike in Beirut, we have heard threats from all sides,” he told a televised address.<\/p>\n
“We are prepared for any scenario and we will stand united and determined.”<\/p>\n
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned against a “dangerous escalation” of hostilities in the region.<\/p>\n
Hamas’s armed wing said the death of Haniyeh, who was widely viewed as the group’s overall leader, would “take the battle to new dimensions” and have major repercussions.<\/p>\n
The group attacked Israel on 7 October, killing around 1,200 people. Since the attack, Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Haniyeh, who played an important role in negotiations over a ceasefire in Gaza, was killed hours after attending the inauguration of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, in Tehran.<\/p>\n
A senior Hamas official told the BBC the killing took place in the same building where Haniyeh had stayed during previous visits to Iran.<\/p>\n
Three Hamas leaders and a number of guards were with him in the same building, they said.<\/p>\n
Khalil Al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official, told a news conference that a missile hit Haniyeh “directly”, citing witnesses who were with him.<\/p>\n
The group’s leadership has been left in “a state of shock”, top Hamas officials have told the BBC.<\/p>\n
Hours before Haniyeh was targeted, Israel said it had killed senior Hezbollah leader Fuad Shukr in Beirut.<\/p>\n
Israel believes he was responsible for a rocket attack that killed 12 people in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday. Hezbollah has denied any involvement.<\/p>\n
The Iran-backed group confirmed Shukr’s body was found among the rubble of the residential building which was struck. Four other people, including two children, were killed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n