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ShareGAZA/WEST BANK: The killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in an air strike in Tehran Wednesday came as a “thunderbolt” to war-weary Gazans, with some expressing disappointment Iran was unable to “protect him”. “This news is like a thunderbolt, something unbelievable,” said Wael Qudayh, 35, a resident of the central city of Deir El-Balah.
Haniyeh was in the Iranian capital to attend the swearing-in on Tuesday of President Masoud Pezeshkian. “Qatar was able to protect Haniyeh for 10 months, but Iran was unable to protect him even for a few hours,” said Youssef Saeed, 40, also a resident of Deir El-Balah.
In the Zionist-occupied West Bank, Hossam Abdel Razek, 45, an employee in a private institution in Ramallah, said Haniyeh’s killing showed that the “blood of Palestinians is cheap”. “The assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Iran proves that we, the Palestinian people, have no protector, that our blood is cheap, and that the Arab and Islamic nation sold us out to America and (the Zionist entity),” he said.
A framed photo of Haniyeh amidst the ruins of his Gaza home reminded Palestinians of the death and destruction brought on by a war now in its tenth month. “The world should now understand that (the Zionist entity) doesn’t want a ceasefire or an end to the war,” said Gaza resident Salah Abu Rezik.
‘Martyrdom’
Palestinian factions called for a general strike and marches across the West Bank on Wednesday to protest the killing of Haniyeh. AFP journalists in Ramallah witnessed employees leaving government buildings in response to the strike call, as well as hundreds of people marching with flags through the city’s streets.
Several Palestinians in the Gaza Strip said Haniyeh had achieved “martyrdom” because of the way he was killed. “This is what every Palestinian hopes for ... to obtain martyrdom while defending his land, his people and its sanctities,” said Muhammad Farwana, 38, from the southern city of Khan Yunis, where Zionist troops ended a major ground assault this week that displaced tens of thousands of people. “Haniyeh was someone who gave away his children and grandchildren on the same path.”
For two of Haniyeh’s former neighbors in Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, his death is also a personal loss. Fatima Al-Saati was sleeping when the news of Haniyeh’s demise broke and has not stopped crying since. “What a loss. We lost one of our very own,” Al-Saati said of Haniyeh. Another neighbor, Hachem Al-Saati, said, “This news is scary. We feel that he was like a father to us.”
In June, 10 family members of Haniyeh were killed in a Zionist air strike in the Al-Shati refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. In April, Haniyeh lost three sons and four grandchildren in a Zionist strike in central Gaza, with the Zionist military accusing them of “terrorist activities”. Haniyeh said at the time that about 60 members of his family had been killed since the war broke out on October 7. His daughter Sara Ismail Haniyeh mourned his death in a post on X, praising a man “loved by everyone”. — Agencies
