Mourners gather in Doha to bid farewell to Haniyeh after his assassination

Hundreds of people gathered at a mosque in Qatar on Friday to farewell slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh after his assassination by Israel in Tehran, an attack that deepened fears of a regional war.

Haniyeh, the Palestinian group's political chief, played a key role in mediated talks aimed at ending nearly 10 months of war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza.

His killing triggered calls for revenge and raised questions about the continued viability of such negotiations.

Mourners lined up for funeral prayers inside Imam Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab Mosque, the Gulf emirate's largest.

Others prayed on mats outside in temperatures that reached 44 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit).

Draped in a Palestinian flag, his casket was carried briefly into the mosque before leaving again for burial in Lusail, north of the Qatari capital.

'Free Palestine'

The killing of Ismail Haniyeh is among several incidents since April that have sent regional tensions soaring during the Israeli war on Gaza which has drawn in Iran-backed militias in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

Türkiye and Pakistan announced a day of mourning on Friday to honour Haniyeh, while Hamas called for a "day of furious rage".

Many Doha mourners were dressed in crisp white traditional robes, others in street clothes. But most wore scarves that combined the Palestinian flag with a checkered keffiyeh pattern and the message in English: "Free Palestine".

Doha traffic police and Qatar's internal security forces monitored all approaches and police-lined highway embankments adjoining the mosque grounds.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref were among the officials due at the funeral.

High-profile killings

Haniyeh and a bodyguard were killed in a pre-dawn "hit" on their accommodation in Tehran early on Wednesday, Iran's Revolutionary Guard said.

Haniyeh was in Iran to attend the swearing-in of President Masoud Pezeshkian a day earlier.

Israel has not directly commented on the attack.

A source close to Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement told AFP that Iranian officials met in Tehran on Wednesday to discuss next steps with representatives of the "Axis of Resistance", Tehran-aligned Middle East groups that include Hezbollah and Houthis.

"Two scenarios were discussed: a simultaneous response from Iran and its allies or a staggered response from each party," said the source who had been briefed on the meeting and requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

During the Gaza war, Hezbollah and Israeli forces have engaged in near-daily exchanges of fire and did so again on Thursday.

The Hamas leader's assassination came hours after Israel struck a southern suburb of Beirut, killing Fuad Shukr, the military commander of Hezbollah which supports Hamas.

Haniyeh's deputy, Saleh al Aruri, had already been killed in south Beirut early this year in a strike which a US defence official said Israel carried out.

In another high-profile assassination attempt, Israel's army on Thursday said that it can "confirm" an air strike in July killed Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif in Gaza, but this never was confirmed by Palestinian resistance groups.