Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared Wednesday as a national day of mourning in response to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. He denounced the killing as a “cowardly act and dangerous development.”
According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, flags across the territories were lowered to half-mast for the day. Palestinian groups subsequently announced a general strike and called for protests in the West Bank following Haniyeh’s death, which was attributed to an Israeli strike in Tehran.
The mourning for Haniyeh, who led the militant group, represented a rare instance of unity among Palestinians amidst ongoing fragmentation and uncertainty regarding Gaza’s future leadership in the wake of conflict.
Condolences came from across the Palestinian political spectrum, including the Islamist factions like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, as well as the secular Fatah party and the communist groups Popular Front and Democratic Front. All praised Haniyeh as a national leader who dedicated his life to the Palestinian cause, and they collectively condemned the alleged Israeli action as “cowardly.”
Israel has yet to officially confirm any involvement in Haniyeh’s death, and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu did not address the incident in his address to the nation Wednesday night. While Hamas is committed to the eradication of Israel, the PA, led by Abbas, aims for the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel based on pre-1967 borders with Yerushalayim as its capital.
Abbas extended his condolences to Khaled Mashaal, a former Hamas leader and a potential successor to Haniyeh. Abbas’s senior adviser, Hussein al-Sheikh, also expressed sympathy for Haniyeh’s “martyrdom” and stressed the importance of solidarity among Palestinian factions.
{Matzav.com}