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Mourners Pay Respects to Slain Hamas Leaders as Worries of Regional War Mount

This video grab shows senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, center, praying near the coffin of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard during the funeral prayers in Doha, Qatar, Friday Aug. 2, 2024. (The AP)
This video grab shows senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, center, praying near the coffin of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard during the funeral prayers in Doha, Qatar, Friday Aug. 2, 2024. (The AP)
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Mourners Pay Respects to Slain Hamas Leaders as Worries of Regional War Mount

This video grab shows senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, center, praying near the coffin of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard during the funeral prayers in Doha, Qatar, Friday Aug. 2, 2024. (The AP)
This video grab shows senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, center, praying near the coffin of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard during the funeral prayers in Doha, Qatar, Friday Aug. 2, 2024. (The AP)

Mourners gathered in Doha on Friday to hold funeral prayers for slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh as Iran and its regional allies vowed to retaliate against Israel.

With the bodies of Haniyeh and his bodyguard in coffins draped with Palestinian flags, men knelt and prayed while senior leaders of Hamas' Qatar-based political office paid their respects to Haniyeh's family, The AP reported.

That included two men seen as his possible successors: Khalil Al-Hayya, a Hamas senior official and the head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and former Hamas Chief Khaled Mashaal, a close Haniyeh aide.

Al-Hayya told family members that Haniyeh was “no better or dearer” than the children killed in Gaza. Some 39,480 Palestinians have been killed throughout the war, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

“We are sure that his blood will bring out victory, dignity and liberation," he said.

The funeral came a day after Israel said it had confirmed that the head of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, was killed in an July 13 airstrike in Gaza, and a few days after Israel said it had killed Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur in a strike in Lebanon.

Hamas has yet to comment and had previously claimed Deif survived last month's targeted airstrike.

Israel has yet to claim or deny a role in the killing of Haniyeh, but Hamas and its allies say it was responsible. The group said he was killed in a missile strike on a Tehran guesthouse where he was staying while after attending the inauguration of Iran’s new president.

From Morocco to Iran, demonstrators took to the streets in a show of support for Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran on Wednesday.

“Let Friday be a day of rage to denounce the assassination,” Hamas’ Izzat al-Risheq said in a statement.

A day earlier, supporters paraded through Tehran as Haniyeh's coffin was carried through the city in an ornate vehicle, while hundreds of black-clad mourners packed an auditorium in Beirut to pay respects to the slain Hezbollah commander.

“We’ve entered a new phase that is different from the previous period,” Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, told mourners, vowing a “well-studied retaliation” against Israel.

The killing of two of Hamas’ most senior figures was a victory for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu as Israeli forces continue to operate in Gaza, nearly 10 months after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel sparked war.

Domestically, it could help win over skeptics of his war strategy, but internationally, it set off a scramble among mediators to salvage a ceasefire deal and avert regional war.

“We have the basis for a ceasefire. He (Netanyahu) should move on it and they should move on it now," US President Joe Biden said late Thursday, speaking on the tarmac of an air base outside Washington.

But Haniyeh had been among Hamas' main negotiators throughout the ceasefire discussions and his assassination could throw into disarray months of talks.

”You (Israel) cannot achieve peace by killing the negotiators and threatening diplomats," Oncu Keceli, a spokesperson for Türkiye's Foreign Ministry, wrote on the social media platform X.

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Arab World

How Gaza Armed Gangs Recruit New Members

Security personnel guard trucks carrying aid as they arrive in Rafah, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in the southern Gaza Strip January 17, 2024. (Reuters)
Security personnel guard trucks carrying aid as they arrive in Rafah, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in the southern Gaza Strip January 17, 2024. (Reuters)
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How Gaza Armed Gangs Recruit New Members

Security personnel guard trucks carrying aid as they arrive in Rafah, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in the southern Gaza Strip January 17, 2024. (Reuters)
Security personnel guard trucks carrying aid as they arrive in Rafah, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in the southern Gaza Strip January 17, 2024. (Reuters)

As Hamas moves to strike armed gangs operating in areas of the Gaza Strip under Israeli army control, the groups are responding with defiance, stepping up efforts to recruit young men and expand their ranks.

Videos posted on social media show training exercises and other activities, signaling that the gangs remain active despite pressure from Hamas security services.

Platforms affiliated with Hamas security say some members have recently turned themselves in following mediation by families, clans and community leaders. The gangs have not responded to those statements. Instead, they occasionally broadcast footage announcing new recruits.

Among the most prominent was Hamza Mahra, a Hamas activist who appeared weeks ago in a video released by the Shawqi Abu Nasira gang, which operates north of Khan Younis and east of Deir al-Balah.

Mahra’s appearance has raised questions about how these groups recruit members inside the enclave.

Field sources and others within the security apparatus of a Palestinian armed faction in Gaza told Asharq Al-Awsat that Mahra’s case may be an exception. They described him as a Hamas activist with no major role, despite his grandfather being among the founders of Hamas in Jabalia.

His decision to join the gang was driven by personal reasons linked to a family dispute, they said, not by organizational considerations.

The sources said the gangs exploit severe economic hardship, luring some young men with money, cigarettes and other incentives. Some recruits were heavily indebted and fled to gang-controlled areas to avoid repaying creditors.

Others joined in search of narcotic pills, the sources said, noting that some had previously been detained by Hamas-run security forces on similar charges. Economic hardship and the need for cigarettes and drugs were among the main drivers of recruitment, they added, saying the gangs, with Israeli backing, provide such supplies.

Resentment toward Hamas has also played a role, particularly among those previously arrested on criminal or security grounds and subjected to what the sources described as limited torture during interrogations under established procedures.

According to the sources, some founders or current leaders of the gangs previously served in the Palestinian Authority security services.

They cited Shawqi Abu Nasira, a senior police officer; Hussam al-Astal, an officer in the Preventive Security Service; and Rami Helles and Ashraf al-Mansi, both former officers in the Palestinian Presidential Guard.

These figures, the sources said, approach young men in need and at times succeed in recruiting them by promising help in settling debts and providing cigarettes. They also tell recruits that joining will secure them a future role in security forces that would later govern Gaza.

The sources described the case of a young man who surrendered to Gaza security services last week. He said he had been pressured after a phone call with a woman who threatened to publish the recording unless he joined one of the gangs.

He later received assurances from another contact that he would help repay some of his debts and ultimately agreed to enlist.

During questioning, he said the leader of the gang he joined east of Gaza City repeatedly assured recruits they would be “part of the structure of any Palestinian security force that will rule the sector.”

The young man told investigators he was unconvinced by those assurances, as were dozens of others in the same group.

Investigations of several individuals who surrendered, along with field data, indicate the gangs have carried out armed missions on behalf of the Israeli army, including locating tunnels. That has led to ambushes by Palestinian factions.

In the past week, clashes in the Zaytoun neighborhood south of Gaza City and near al-Masdar east of Deir al-Balah left gang members dead and wounded.

Some investigations also found that the gangs recruited young men previously involved in looting humanitarian aid.

Arab World

Israel Permits 10,000 West Bank Palestinians for Friday Prayers at Al Aqsa

Palestinians attend Friday prayers in a mosque following an attack that local Palestinians said was carried out by Israeli settlers, in the village of Deir Istiya near Salfit in the Israeli-occupied West Bank November 14, 2025. REUTERS/Sinan Abu Mayzer
Palestinians attend Friday prayers in a mosque following an attack that local Palestinians said was carried out by Israeli settlers, in the village of Deir Istiya near Salfit in the Israeli-occupied West Bank November 14, 2025. REUTERS/Sinan Abu Mayzer
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Israel Permits 10,000 West Bank Palestinians for Friday Prayers at Al Aqsa

Palestinians attend Friday prayers in a mosque following an attack that local Palestinians said was carried out by Israeli settlers, in the village of Deir Istiya near Salfit in the Israeli-occupied West Bank November 14, 2025. REUTERS/Sinan Abu Mayzer
Palestinians attend Friday prayers in a mosque following an attack that local Palestinians said was carried out by Israeli settlers, in the village of Deir Istiya near Salfit in the Israeli-occupied West Bank November 14, 2025. REUTERS/Sinan Abu Mayzer

Israel announced that it will cap the number of Palestinian worshippers from the occupied West Bank attending weekly Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in east Jerusalem at 10,000 during the holy month of Ramadan, which began Wednesday.

Israeli authorities also imposed age restrictions on West Bank Palestinians, permitting entry only to men aged 55 and older, women aged 50 and older, and children up to age 12.

"Ten thousand Palestinian worshippers will be permitted to enter the Temple Mount for Friday prayers throughout the month of Ramadan, subject to obtaining a dedicated daily permit in advance," COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry agency in charge of civilian matters in the Palestinian territories, said in a statement, AFP reported.

"Entry for men will be permitted from age 55, for women from age 50, and for children up to age 12 when accompanied by a first-degree relative."

COGAT told AFP that the restrictions apply only to Palestinians travelling from the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

"It is emphasised that all permits are conditional upon prior security approval by the relevant security authorities," COGAT said.

"In addition, residents travelling to prayers at the Temple Mount will be required to undergo digital documentation at the crossings upon their return to the areas of Judea and Samaria at the conclusion of the prayer day," it said, using the Biblical term for the West Bank.

During Ramadan, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians traditionally attend prayers at Al-Aqsa, Islam's third holiest site, located in east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in 1967 and later annexed in a move that is not internationally recognized.

Since the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023, the attendance of worshippers has declined due to security concerns and Israeli restrictions.

The Palestinian Jerusalem Governorate said this week that Israeli authorities had prevented the Islamic Waqf -- the Jordanian-run body that administers the site -- from carrying out routine preparations ahead of Ramadan, including installing shade structures and setting up temporary medical clinics.

A senior imam of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Muhammad al-Abbasi, told AFP that he, too, had been barred from entering the compound.

"I have been barred from the mosque for a week, and the order can be renewed," he said.

Abbasi said he was not informed of the reason for the ban, which came into effect on Monday.

Under longstanding arrangements, Jews may visit the Al-Aqsa compound -- which they revere as the site of the first and second Jewish temples -- but they are not permitted to pray there.

Israel says it is committed to upholding this status quo, though Palestinians fear it is being eroded.

In recent years, a growing number of Jewish ultranationalists have challenged the prayer ban, including far-right politician Itamar Ben Gvir, who prayed at the site while serving as national security minister in 2024 and 2025.

Arab World

EU Exploring Support for New Gaza Administration Committee, Document Says

Palestinians push a cart past the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the two-year Israeli offensives, in Gaza City, February 17, 2026. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinians push a cart past the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the two-year Israeli offensives, in Gaza City, February 17, 2026. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
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EU Exploring Support for New Gaza Administration Committee, Document Says

Palestinians push a cart past the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the two-year Israeli offensives, in Gaza City, February 17, 2026. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinians push a cart past the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the two-year Israeli offensives, in Gaza City, February 17, 2026. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

The European Union is exploring possible support for a new committee established to take over the civil administration of Gaza, according to a document produced by the bloc's diplomatic arm and seen by Reuters.

"The EU is engaging with the newly established transitional governance structures for Gaza," the European External Action Service wrote in a document circulated to member states on Tuesday.

"The EU is also exploring possible support to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza," it added.

European foreign ministers will discuss the situation in Gaza during a meeting in Brussels on February 23.