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Palestinian President Strongly Condemns Killing of Hamas Chief

Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh (C) flashes victory sign as surrounded by Iranian lawmakers at the Iranian parliament in Tehran, Iran, 30 July 2024 (issued 31 July 2024). EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh (C) flashes victory sign as surrounded by Iranian lawmakers at the Iranian parliament in Tehran, Iran, 30 July 2024 (issued 31 July 2024). EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
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Palestinian President Strongly Condemns Killing of Hamas Chief

Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh (C) flashes victory sign as surrounded by Iranian lawmakers at the Iranian parliament in Tehran, Iran, 30 July 2024 (issued 31 July 2024). EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh (C) flashes victory sign as surrounded by Iranian lawmakers at the Iranian parliament in Tehran, Iran, 30 July 2024 (issued 31 July 2024). EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas strongly condemned on Wednesday the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, state news agency WAFA reported.
Palestinian national and Islamic factions called for a general strike and mass demonstrations after Haniyeh's killing.
Hamas said Wednesday its political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in an Israeli strike in Iran, where he had been attending the inauguration of the country's new president.
Haniyeh's killing came after Israel on Tuesday struck a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut, killing a senior commander of the Iran-backed group it said was responsible for a weekend rocket attack on the Israel-annexed Golan Heights, reported AFP.

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West Bank Palestinians Say Haniyeh Killing Will Not Affect Fight with Israel

(FILES) Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh talks to reporters after his meeting with Egyptian officials in Gaza City, 12 February 2006. (Photo by Mohammed ABED / AFP)
(FILES) Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh talks to reporters after his meeting with Egyptian officials in Gaza City, 12 February 2006. (Photo by Mohammed ABED / AFP)
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West Bank Palestinians Say Haniyeh Killing Will Not Affect Fight with Israel

(FILES) Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh talks to reporters after his meeting with Egyptian officials in Gaza City, 12 February 2006. (Photo by Mohammed ABED / AFP)
(FILES) Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh talks to reporters after his meeting with Egyptian officials in Gaza City, 12 February 2006. (Photo by Mohammed ABED / AFP)

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank condemned the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas who was killed in Iran on Wednesday, but said it would have little effect on the movement.
Israeli officials have not so far claimed responsibility for the killing of Haniyeh, who had been in Tehran for the inauguration of the new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and there has been no official comment from the government, said Reuters.
But few doubted that Haniyeh, the public face of Hamas who took the top job in 2017, was the latest in a string of Hamas leaders to have been killed by Israel.
"We woke up this morning to a tragedy for the Palestinian people," said Fawzi Nassar, a resident of the southern city of Hebron.
"He is not the first one they assassinated - there were many leaders in the past like Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and others, but that will not affect our steadfastness," he said, referring to the founder of Hamas who was killed by an Israeli helicopter gunship in 2004.
Palestinian factions called for a day of protest and a general strike in the West Bank and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah faction is a political rival to Hamas, condemned the killing, which Fatah called a "heinous and cowardly act".
Although the West Bank is under the nominal leadership of the Palestinian Authority, run by Fatah, opinion polls show support for Hamas is strong.
"His assassination will not affect the party because the party is not a new one," said Suheil Nasrelddin, a resident of Hebron. "They have a lot of leaders, even the youngest child is a leader."
The West Bank has been in turmoil since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel which sparked Israel's invasion of Gaza, with regular raids by Israeli forces in cities across the area.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, many of them armed militants but also many stone-throwing youths or unarmed protesters and uninvolved civilians.
"The Israeli crime of assassinating Ismael Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas, will not break the Palestinian resistance or the Palestinian people's determination to achieve our freedom," said Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian politician who heads the Union Of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees.
"Of course it will escalate the situation," he said. "And this is what Netanyahu wants, he knows that the end of this war is the end of his political career."