Calls for protests in Palestine after Haniyeh’s assassination in Iran

The Palestinian National and Islamic Forces Committee, which encompasses the majority of Palestinian groups in Gaza, has called for a general strike and protests at contact points in response to the assassination of Hamas Political Bureau Chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

“The assassination of our great national leader Ismail Haniyeh is part of the Zionist state’s terrorism, genocide, destruction and annihilation war, under the international community’s failure to stop the war and hold the occupiers accountable for their crimes,” the committee declared in a sentence.

“The Palestinian National and Islamic Forces Committee, during the mourning period for martyr commander Ismail Haniyeh, assures all Palestinians and the free people of the world that this cowardly assassination will not break our people’s resistance and endurance.”

“Instead, it will strengthen our resolve to advance with commitment to our rights, principles, struggle and resistance for independence and freedom,” the statement continued.

The committee called on Palestinians to observe a general strike and hold protest marches at contact points.

Haniyeh’s death was announced via mosque loudspeakers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and many cities observed a general strike.

Assassination of Hamas leader Haniyeh in Iran

Haniyeh was in Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian President Mesoud Pezeshkian.

On the morning of July 31, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards announced that Haniyeh’s residence in Tehran had been attacked.

Both Iran and Hamas hold Israel responsible for the assassination, while Israeli officials have refrained from commenting on the incident.

Haniyeh was elected as the Chief of the Hamas Political Bureau by the Hamas Shura Council on May 6, 2017, succeeding Khaled Meshaal.