Palestinian factions pledge to continue struggle after Haniyeh's death

Hamas leader's assassination came shortly after his faction and Fatah had signed a deal to discuss forming an 'interim national reconciliation government'

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Palestinian faction leaders expressed defiance over the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Tuesday, suggesting a united front amid derailed ceasefire talks.

The National spoke to several Palestinian figures who were in Doha for the funeral prayer service for Mr Haniyeh, as fears of a wider regional war grow, with Iran expected to strike Israel or increase military support to its allies significantly.

The service was attended by several international delegations, including from Turkey and Malaysia, while Fatah, previously Hamas’s main Palestinian rival, also sent representatives.

The Israeli-occupied West Bank is controlled by Fatah, a coalition of Palestinian parties based in Ramallah, while Gaza is run by Hamas, the political side of an armed group, Ezzedine Al Qassam Brigades.

Hamas also has allied factions in Gaza, such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

On July 23, Hamas, Fatah and 12 other groups signed an agreement to discuss forming an “interim national reconciliation government”, mediated by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing.

Fatah leader and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Mr Haniyeh’s killing a “heinous and cowardly act”.

Youssef Al Makdah, the secretary general of the Fatah-aligned Palestine Liberation Front, said the death was “a great loss for the resistance”.

But he said that “our strength will increase and whenever they assassinate a leader, there will be another leader who will lead the resistance until all of Palestine is liberated and our national and historical rights are restored”.

Mr Al Makdah said he believed Mr Haniyeh’s killing had “frozen” peace negotiations, but warned that the assassination “will be met with a harsh response, whether it comes from Lebanon, the Palestinian resistance, or Iran”.

Mr Haniyeh’s assassination was a “cowardly action”, according to Marwan Abdullah, a member of the political bureau of the PFLP.

He said Israel had “failed in the confrontations taking place on the ground and failed to achieve the goals they have announced in this war. This is a big indication that their war goals have changed.”

Vowing that the Palestinians will not be defeated, Mr Abdullah said his movement has “concerns because the enemy has dragged matters to positions that now pose a threat to many aspects of life in this region”.

An ideologically Marxist group, the PFLP was formed in the late 1960s by George Habash, a former doctor whose sister was killed during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

Its military wing, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, is so called in honour of Mr Habash’s successor, who was assassinated while sitting in his office in 2001.

Fahd Suleiman, secretary general of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said Mr Haniyeh’s death would reverberate around the region, in addition to another strike – within the space of 12 hours – that killed Fouad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah commander, in Beirut.

That strike claimed the lives of two children and drew sharp condemnation from the Lebanese government, as well as stronger international calls for de-escalation.

“What happened in recent days, the assassination of commander Fouad Shukr on the one hand in Lebanon and the assassination of commander Ismail Haniyeh on the other hand, led to a set of repercussions that are not limited to the Palestinian side, but will have international and regional repercussions,” said Mr Suleiman.

“The United States has now intervened directly and announced that it will not allow Israel to be harmed, and on this basis it brought the naval fleet in the territories to Israel, Palestine and Iran. Today, we are facing a major crisis that is not easy to solve through diplomatic means,” he added.

The US has recently added to its naval strength in the region, sending more warships in a move analysts say is in anticipation of an Iranian strike on Israel.

“The Palestinian-Israeli confrontation continues and will become more intense,” Mr Suleiman said.

“Gaza will continue to resist, and it will also spread throughout the West Bank and in the influential regional countries.

"Iran and its allies, the Axis of Resistance, and all the forces seeking to achieve national goals are all on alert and ready to continue this confrontation.”

Israel’s nearly 10-month war on Gaza has claimed nearly 40,000 lives, mostly civilians.

Concurrent fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon has killed about 500, mainly fighters, while dozens of soldiers and civilians have been killed in Israel.

Additional reporting by Robert Tollast in Abu Dhabi.