Dismay in Gaza, and rare open support for Hamas in West Bank after Haniyeh killing

War-weary Palestinians in Gaza mourn the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Some say it will complicate efforts to reach a ceasefire deal with Israel.

“This man could have signed the prisoner exchange deal with the Israelis,” says Saleh al-Shannar, who was displaced from his home in northern Gaza. “Why did they kill him? They killed peace, not Ismail Haniyeh.”

Nour Abu Salam, a displaced woman, says the killing shows that Israel doesn’t want to end the war and establish peace in the region. “By assassinating Haniyeh, they are destroying everything,” she says.

And hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators have marched through Ramallah and other cities in the  West Bank in protest against the killing. They carried dozens of green Hamas flags and chanted, “The people want al-Qassam Brigades,” a reference to the group’s military wing.

Open support in Ramallah for Hamas is rare. Ramallah is the administrative capital of the West Bank and is governed by the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, long at odds with Hamas over the governance of the two Palestinian territories.