Closing summary
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.
Israel’s foreign ministry summoned the deputy Turkish ambassador for a reprimand on Friday after Turkey’s embassy in Tel Aviv lowered its flag to half mast in response to the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh. “The State of Israel will not tolerate expressions of mourning for a murderer like Ismail Haniyeh,” foreign minister Israel Katz said in a statement.
Amid fears of wider Middle East conflict, Poland has advised its citizens against travelling to Lebanon, Israel and Iran, according to updated guidance published on Friday. “In connection with a growing number of Polish tourists visiting Lebanon, Israel and Iran, we want to repeat that we have long advised against any kind of travel to this region,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on the social media platform X.
The leader of Hezbollah has said that the Lebanese group’s conflict with Israel has entered “a new phase” after the back-to-back assassinations of a senior commander and Hamas’s political chief that risk plunging the Middle East into a regional war. In a televised address broadcast to about 1,000 mourners at the Beirut funeral of Hezbollah’s second-in-command, Fuad Shukur, Hassan Nasrallah vowed that the powerful Shia militia would seek revenge.
The French foreign ministry has formally advised its citizen against travelling to Iran and has asked French citizens still in the country to leave as soon as possible due to a risk of military escalation in the region in a travel advisory published on Friday.
US president Joe Biden said on Thursday the killing of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas’ leader Ismail Haniyeh was not helpful for a ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza. Biden said he had a direct conversation with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier on Thursday, Reuters reported. He made the comments at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, where a plane carrying detainees released by Russia landed late on Thursday.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken discussed with the United Arab Emirates minister of foreign affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, release hostages and increase humanitarian assistance, the US mission to the Gulf Arab state said.
Three Israeli airstrikes hit the convoy of aid vehicles travelling through Gaza on 1 April, killing seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) staff. The dead included Palestinians and citizens of Australia, Britain and Poland. The killings drew widespread condemnation from Israel’s allies and accusations that Israel had deliberately targeted the air workers, a claim it rejected.
The family of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom has called for “further investigations” into her killing in Gaza, while describing an Australian government-ordered report as only a “first step”. The report said the Israeli government should provide an “appropriate apology” and consider compensation to the families of Frankcom, aged 43, and her six colleagues over their killings on 1 April.
The head of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza last month, the Israeli military said on Thursday, a day after the group’s political leader was assassinated in Tehran. At least 90 people were killed and about 300 wounded in the strike. “The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) announces that on 13 July 2024, IDF fighter jets struck in the area of Khan Younis, and after an intelligence assessment, it can be confirmed that Mohammed Deif was eliminated in the strike,” the military said. Hamas did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Reuters reported.
Israel is prepared for any eventuality following warnings from Iran and its allies of retaliation for the killing of senior leaders from Hezbollah and Hamas, and will respond strongly to any attack, a government spokesperson said on Thursday. “Israel will exact a very high price for aggression against us from whatever quarter,” he told a briefing with journalists, echoing a similar warning from prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday evening.
Lufthansa Group has cancelled all its passenger and cargo flights to and from Tel Aviv with immediate effect until 8 August, a spokesperson for the German airline said on Thursday. “The reason for this is the current development in the region,” the spokesperson added.
That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, and the Middle East crisis live blog for today. Thanks for following along.
Amid fears of wider Middle East conflict, Poland has advised its citizens against travelling to Lebanon, Israel and Iran, according to updated guidance published on Friday.
“In connection with a growing number of Polish tourists visiting Lebanon, Israel and Iran, we want to repeat that we have long advised against any kind of travel to this region,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on the social media platform X.
“The unstable security situation makes it possible to believe that it will be more and more difficult to leave the three countries,” the ministry added.
Earlier on Friday, Polish airline LOT said it cancelled eight flights to Lebanon and Israel because of the security situation, PAP news agency reported.
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.
That included two men seen as his possible successors: Khalil al-Hayya, a Hamas senior official, and former Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal, a close Haniyeh aide. The head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad also attended.
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.
France advises its citizens to leave Iran due to risk of military escalation
The French foreign ministry has formally advised its citizen against travelling to Iran and has asked French citizens still in the country to leave as soon as possible due to a risk of military escalation in the region in a travel advisory published on Friday.
Updated
Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik spoke to Fadel al-Utol, an archaeologist who has worked in Gaza for the past 30 years for the latest piece in the Gaza Voices series.
Here is an extract:
Imagine you are living in a house and then you are living in a tent. Life has shrunk. Now I spend my time searching for everything for my family. You are running after water, trying to charge your phone, looking for solar power, then polluted water makes you sick. And inflation is 400-500%. And now it’s July so it’s very hot. The tents are plastic so it is as if you are boiling in an oven.
My eldest son also helps, but if there’s something a bit far away that needs to be brought, I do it because I am older and can figure it out if things get risky. And then you hear that there is someone nearby who is wanted by Israel and so the area is struck. These are massive bombs. The sound and shaking of the ground puts you in a state of horror. It’s something you do not even see in Hollywood movies, not even in your imagination.
We left our homes with nothing, thinking we would be back in days. I left in a T-shirt and trousers. Me and my whole family have nothing to do with political or military affairs. I am a civilian who wants to live a cultural and humanitarian life. Why are they punishing me?
The day so far
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is being buried in Qatar today following his assassination in the Iranian capital Tehran, one in a series of killings of senior figures in the Palestinian militant group as the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza rages. Haniyeh will be interred in a cemetery after funeral prayers in the city of Lusail, north of Qatar’s capital Doha. Hamas politburo member Izzat al-Rishq called on people to pray for his soul in all mosques around the world.
Israel’s foreign ministry summoned the deputy Turkish ambassador for a reprimand on Friday after Turkey’s embassy in Tel Aviv lowered its flag to half mast in response to the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh. “The State of Israel will not tolerate expressions of mourning for a murderer like Ismail Haniyeh,” foreign minister Israel Katz said in a statement.
The leader of Hezbollah has said that the Lebanese group’s conflict with Israel has entered “a new phase” after the back-to-back assassinations of a senior commander and Hamas’s political chief that risk plunging the Middle East into a regional war. In a televised address broadcast to about 1,000 mourners at the Beirut funeral of Hezbollah’s second-in-command, Fuad Shukur, Hassan Nasrallah vowed that the powerful Shia militia would seek revenge.
US president Joe Biden said on Thursday the killing of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas’ leader Ismail Haniyeh was not helpful for a ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza. Biden said he had a direct conversation with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier on Thursday, Reuters reported. He made the comments at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, where a plane carrying detainees released by Russia landed late on Thursday.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken discussed with the United Arab Emirates minister of foreign affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, release hostages and increase humanitarian assistance, the US mission to the Gulf Arab state said.
Three Israeli airstrikes hit the convoy of aid vehicles travelling through Gaza on 1 April, killing seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) staff. The dead included Palestinians and citizens of Australia, Britain and Poland. The killings drew widespread condemnation from Israel’s allies and accusations that Israel had deliberately targeted the air workers, a claim it rejected.
The family of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom has called for “further investigations” into her killing in Gaza, while describing an Australian government-ordered report as only a “first step”. The report said the Israeli government should provide an “appropriate apology” and consider compensation to the families of Frankcom, aged 43, and her six colleagues over their killings on 1 April.
The head of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza last month, the Israeli military said on Thursday, a day after the group’s political leader was assassinated in Tehran. At least 90 people were killed and about 300 wounded in the strike. “The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) announces that on 13 July 2024, IDF fighter jets struck in the area of Khan Younis, and after an intelligence assessment, it can be confirmed that Mohammed Deif was eliminated in the strike,” the military said. Hamas did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Reuters reported.
Israel is prepared for any eventuality following warnings from Iran and its allies of retaliation for the killing of senior leaders from Hezbollah and Hamas, and will respond strongly to any attack, a government spokesperson said on Thursday. “Israel will exact a very high price for aggression against us from whatever quarter,” he told a briefing with journalists, echoing a similar warning from prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday evening.
Lufthansa Group has cancelled all its passenger and cargo flights to and from Tel Aviv with immediate effect until 8 August, a spokesperson for the German airline said on Thursday. “The reason for this is the current development in the region,” the spokesperson added.
Updated
Israel summons Turkish envoy over half-mast salute for Hamas leader
Israel’s foreign ministry summoned the deputy Turkish ambassador for a reprimand on Friday after Turkey’s embassy in Tel Aviv lowered its flag to half mast in response to the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.
“The State of Israel will not tolerate expressions of mourning for a murderer like Ismail Haniyeh,” foreign minister Israel Katz said in a statement.
Haniyeh was killed in Tehran while there to attend the inauguration of Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian. Israel has not made any official claim of responsibility for his death but Iran and allies including Hamas and Hezbollah have accused Israel of the assassination and vowed revenge.
Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan declared Friday, 2 August, a day of national mourning for Haniyeh.
Katz’s statement said Haniyeh had been Hamas leader during the 7 October attack on Israel that killed some 1,200 Israelis and foreigners and saw more than 250 taken hostage into Gaza, triggering Israel’s assault on the coastal enclave.
Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Oncu Keceli, responding to Katz’s remarks on social media platform X, said: “You cannot achieve peace by killing negotiators, threatening diplomats,” in an apparent reference to Haniyeh’s killing.
Tensions between Israel and Turkey have risen sharply since the start of the war in Gaza, in which more than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed.
Assassinated Hamas leader to be buried in Qatar
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh will be buried in Qatar on Friday following his assassination in the Iranian capital Tehran, one in a series of killings of senior figures in the Palestinian militant group as the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza rages.
Haniyeh will be interred in a cemetery after funeral prayers in the city of Lusail, north of Qatar’s capital Doha.
Hamas politburo member Izzat al-Rishq called on people to pray for his soul in all mosques around the world.
“Let today, Friday, be a day of overwhelming anger denouncing the assassination crime and rejecting the genocide in the Gaza Strip,” he said in a statement.
Updated
The leader of Hezbollah has said that the Lebanese group’s conflict with Israel has entered “a new phase” after the back-to-back assassinations of a senior commander and Hamas’s political chief that risk plunging the Middle East into a regional war.
In a televised address broadcast to about 1,000 mourners at the Beirut funeral of Hezbollah’s second-in-command, Fuad Shukur, Hassan Nasrallah vowed that the powerful Shia militia would seek revenge.
“The enemy, and those who are behind the enemy, must await our inevitable response … You do not know what red lines you crossed,” he said, in reference to Israel and its most important ally, the US.
Similar warnings of retaliation were made earlier in the day in Tehran, at a funeral procession for the Hamas political chief, Ismail Haniyeh. The 62-year-old was killed in the early hours of Wednesday – just hours after the missile attack on Shukur in Beirut – during a visit for the inauguration of Iran’s new president.
US president Joe Biden said on Thursday the killing of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas’ leader Ismail Haniyeh was not helpful for a ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza.
Biden said he had a direct conversation with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier on Thursday, Reuters reported.
He made the comments at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, where a plane carrying detainees released by Russia landed late on Thursday.
Meanwhile, US secretary of state Antony Blinken discussed with the United Arab Emirates minister of foreign affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, release hostages and increase humanitarian assistance, the US mission to the Gulf Arab state said.
The family of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom has called for “further investigations” into her killing in Gaza, while describing an Australian government-ordered report as only a “first step”.
The report said the Israeli government should provide an “appropriate apology” and consider compensation to the families of Frankcom, aged 43, and her six colleagues over their killings on 1 April.
The former Australian defence force chief Mark Binskin found “a significant breakdown in situational awareness” by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) when the World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid convoy was hit by Israeli drone strikes.
The report published on Friday said IDF controls failed, “leading to errors in decision making and a misidentification, likely compounded by a level of confirmation bias”.
But Binskin said he did not believe the strikes were “knowingly or deliberately directed against the WCK”.
Friday's episode of our daily podcast, Today in Focus, is about the ramifications of the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the political chief of Hamas, which has fuelled fears of a regional conflict.
“We’re in this very uncomfortable position again, of waiting for men who don’t have a track record of necessarily making decisions that support peace, to try and calibrate their response in a way that they think will shore up their military position without letting things or forcing things to escalate further,” the Guardian’s senior international affairs correspondent, Emma Graham-Harrison, told Today in Focus host Michael Safi.
Israeli military errors to blame for deadly April strike on aid workers in Gaza, Australian review says
Israeli airstrikes that killed international aid workers in Gaza in April were the result of serious operational failures but were not intentional, according to a Australian government review of the incident released on Friday, Reuters reports.
Three Israeli airstrikes hit the convoy of aid vehicles travelling through Gaza on 1 April, killing seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) staff. The dead included Palestinians and citizens of Australia, Britain and Poland.
The killings drew widespread condemnation from Israel’s allies and accusations that Israel had deliberately targeted the air workers, a claim it rejected.
An Australian review into the deaths said the Israel Defense Force (IDF) decided to launch missiles at the convoy after mistakenly believing it was being hijacked by Hamas fighters, who were in fact locally contracted security guards.
“Based on the information available to me, it is my assessment that the IDF strike on the WCK aid workers was not knowingly or deliberately directed against the WCK,” according to Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin, who travelled to Israel to investigate the deaths.
Israel’s investigation into the deaths had been “timely, appropriate and, with some exceptions, sufficient,” he said.
“In this incident, it appears that the IDF controls failed, leading to errors in decision making and a misidentification, likely compounded by a level of confirmation bias.”
The IDF has previously called the incident a grave mistake.
In a statement accompanying the report, foreign minister Penny Wong said Australia would push for full accountability from those responsible, including criminal charges if appropriate.
“The Military Advocate General of Israel is still to decide on further action,” she said in a statement.
“Our expectation remains that there be transparency about the Military Advocate General’s process and decision.”
Updated
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the Middle East crisis.
The assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran “doesn’t help” efforts to negotiate a ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza, US President Joe Biden has said, a day after the Hamas leader was killed.
Speaking to reporters as he welcomed back US citizens freed in a prisoner swap with Russia late Thursday, Biden said he had had a “very direct” conversation with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier in the day, repeating “very direct” for emphasis.
He added: “We have the basis for a ceasefire. He should move on it and they should move on it now.”
An earlier White House statement had said Biden had told Netanyahu that Washington was committed to defending Israel’s security “against all threats from Iran” and that Biden had “reaffirmed his commitment to Israel’s security against all threats from Iran, including its proxy terrorist groups Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis”.
“The president discussed efforts to support Israel’s defense against threats, including against ballistic missiles and drones, to include new defensive US military deployments,” the statement said.
The two leaders were joined on the call by US vice-president and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, who has struck a sharper tone with Israel on the Gaza war, without deviating from the Biden administration’s policies.
In other developments:
The leader of Hezbollah said that the Lebanese group’s conflict with Israel had entered “a new phase” after the back-to-back assassinations of a senior commander and Hamas’s political chief. In a televised address broadcast to about 1,000 mourners at the Beirut funeral of Hezbollah’s second-in-command, Fuad Shukur, Hassan Nasrallah vowed that the powerful Shia militia would seek revenge. “The enemy, and those who are behind the enemy, must await our inevitable response … You do not know what red lines you crossed,” he said, in reference to Israel and its most important ally, the US.
Qatar is to hold on Friday funeral ceremonies for Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, a day after a funeral service in Tehran. Haniyeh, the Palestinian armed group’s political chief, had resided in Doha along with other members of the Hamas political office. He will be buried at a cemetery in Lusail, north of the Qatari capital, after funeral prayers at the Imam Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab mosque, the emirate’s largest.
The head of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza last month, the Israeli military said on Thursday, a day after the group’s political leader was assassinated in Tehran. At least 90 people were killed and about 300 wounded in the strike. “The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) announces that on 13 July 2024, IDF fighter jets struck in the area of Khan Younis, and after an intelligence assessment, it can be confirmed that Mohammed Deif was eliminated in the strike,” the military said. Hamas did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Reuters reported.
Israel is prepared for any eventuality following warnings from Iran and its allies of retaliation for the killing of senior leaders from Hezbollah and Hamas, and will respond strongly to any attack, a government spokesperson said on Thursday. “Israel will exact a very high price for aggression against us from whatever quarter,” he told a briefing with journalists, echoing a similar warning from prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday evening.
Lufthansa Group has cancelled all its passenger and cargo flights to and from Tel Aviv with immediate effect until 8 August, a spokesperson for the German airline said on Thursday. “The reason for this is the current development in the region,” the spokesperson added.
More than 39,480 Palestinians have been killed and 91,128 have been injured in the Israeli military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Thursday. Thousands more are believed to be buried under the rubble and tens of thousands have been wounded.
China hopes Palestinian factions can create an independent state as soon as possible, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday while addressing a query on the killing of the Hamas chief in Iran. “China earnestly looks forward to all Palestinian factions, on the basis of internal reconciliation, create an independent Palestinian state as soon as possible,” Lin Jian said during a regular press briefing.
Top Iranian officials met the representatives of Iran’s regional allies from Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen on Thursday to discuss potential retaliation against Israel after the killing of the Hamas leader in Tehran, five sources told Reuters. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini has blamed Israel and said Iran had a “duty” of revenge because Haniyeh had been targeted while a guest in the country.
Turkey has blocked cooperation between Nato and Israel since October because of the war in Gaza and said the alliance should not engage with Israel as a partner until there is an end to the conflict, sources familiar with the process said. Israel carries the status of Nato partner and has fostered close relations with the military alliance and some of its members, notably its biggest ally the United States, Reuters reported.
Al Jazeera “strongly” rejected Israel’s “baseless” claim that the network’s correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul, who was killed along with his cameraman and a child in an Israeli strike this week, was a Hamas operative. The Qatar-based network said the accusation, which was not backed up with any evidence, was an attempt to justify the “deliberate killing”. Israel has been accused of deliberately targeting journalists in its war on Gaza, which it denies, and it has killed more than 100.
Updated
