Abbas declares day of mourning for Haniyeh as he blasts ‘cowardly’ killing
Mourning for political leader of terror group provides rare occasion for Palestinian unity as leaders hail him and his ‘martyrdom’
Gianluca Pacchiani is the Arab affairs reporter for The Times of Israel
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced a national day of mourning Wednesday over the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, as he condemned the killing as a “cowardly act and dangerous development.”
Palestinian flags were flown at half-staff for the day, the Palestinian official news agency Wafa reported, as Palestinian factions announced a general strike and called for demonstrations in the West Bank after Haniyeh’s killing in a Tehran strike widely attributed to Israel.
The mourning for the leader of the terror group marked a rare moment of Palestinian unity amid fragmentation and uncertainty about Gaza’s future leadership postwar.
Condolences poured in from all sides of the Palestinian political spectrum, from the Islamist bloc, represented by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, to its historic secularist rival Fatah and the communist Popular Front and Democratic Front.
All hailed Haniyeh as a national leader who had devoted and sacrificed his life for the Palestinian cause, unanimously condemning the ostensible Israeli action as “cowardly.”
Israel has not officially acknowledged any involvement in the killing of Haniyeh, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made no mention of him in a speech to the nation on Wednesday night. Hamas is avowedly committed to the destruction of Israel; the PA, under Abbas, formally seeks a Palestinian state alongside Israel on the pre-1967 lines with its capital in Jerusalem.
Abbas offered his condolences over the phone to Khaled Mashaal, a former Hamas leader and a frontrunner to replace Haniyeh at the head of the terror group.
Abbas’s top adviser, Hussein al-Sheikh, also offered his condolences for Haniyeh’s “martyrdom,” emphasizing the need for unity among Palestinian factions.
Mohammed Dahlan, a former Fatah official from the Gaza Strip who was ousted by Hamas in its 2007 coup and later expelled by Abbas, also tweeted a message of mourning for Haniyeh and condemnation for Israel.
Dahlan, considered one of the few unifying figures in the fragmented Palestinian political landscape, is often touted as a potential leader in postwar Gaza, though he has repeatedly rejected the idea.
The Palestinian street expressed strong support for the slain leader and for Hamas, which enjoys high approval ratings in the West Bank — 41%, according to a June poll — amid growing frustration with the corruption and mismanagement of the ruling Fatah (endorsed by only 17% of residents) and its inability to stop the war in Gaza.
A general strike in Ramallah, the occupied West Bank, to mourn Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and condemn his assassination by 'Israel'. pic.twitter.com/afyFOJ6KOO
— Chris Hutchinson (@ChrisHu34451470) July 31, 2024
Hundreds of enraged demonstrators took to the streets of Ramallah, Nablus, and other cities Wednesday, carrying green Hamas banners and chanting, “The people want the al-Qassam Brigades,” a reference to the terror group’s military wing.
Open support for the Islamist group in Ramallah is rare, as the city is the power center of the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority.
Palestinian factions recently held a reconciliation summit in Beijing under Chinese auspices, ending with a formal declaration to work toward a unity government. However, the final communiqué is likely to remain unfulfilled, as previous unity deals have failed to be implemented.
For Hamas officials, Palestinian unity did not seem a priority immediately following Haniyeh’s assassination. Their statements on Wednesday were highly belligerent, calling for revenge and retaliation for the killing of their politburo chief.
From Tehran, Khalil al-Hayya, formally a deputy chief of the terror group in Gaza who lives today in Qatar, vowed to make Israel pay “a heavy price for its crime,” while the al-Qassam Brigades declared that the assassination escalated the conflict with Israel to “new levels.”
On social media, condemnation of the attack was nearly unanimous among Palestinian and pro-Palestinian netizens. Some, however, directed their anger not only at Israel but also at Iran for failing to prevent Haniyeh’s death, as historic mistrust resurfaced between Sunnis and Shiites.
In a tweet he later deleted, Muhammad Smiry, a young Gazan who manages a popular account on X with 840,000 followers, wrote, “Never trust Iran.”
In the comments under his tweet, and elsewhere on social media, Sunni Muslims expressed their mistrust of the Shiite Tehran regime, noting that unlike Qatar and Turkey, Iran could not adequately protect its guest, and speculating that it might have even been complicit in the assassination.
At the same time, others noted that the Iranian regime has done more than any Arab country to support Hamas and Islamist militias throughout the region fighting Israel.
