KUALA LUMPUR – The United Nations (UN) Security Council is set to hold an urgent session on Wednesday over the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital Tehran.
According to Anadolu Agency, Russia, which currently holds the presidency of the Security Council, said the meeting will take place at 4pm (2000 GMT).
The emergency session was requested by Iran and supported by Russia, Algeria, and China.
On Wednesday, Palestinian militant group Hamas said its political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli strike in Iran, where he was attending the swearing-in of new president Masoud Pezeshkian.
Hamas has vowed the act “will not go unanswered,” according to a report by AFP.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei too threatened “harsh punishment” for Haniyeh’s killing and said: “We consider it our duty to seek revenge for his blood as he was martyred in the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Iran’s new President Pezeshkian echoed Khamenei and said: “The Zionists will soon see the consequences of their cowardly and terrorist act.” Israeli policies “have reached a dead end,” he added.
On Tuesday, Haniyeh travelled to Tehran to attend the swearing-in of Pezeshkian.
The government, following the news of the killing, declared three days of national mourning.
An “official and public” funeral ceremony for Haniyeh will be held in Tehran on Thursday before his body is flown to Qatar, his base in recent years, for burial on Friday, Hamas said.
On Wednesday, a number of demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and rallied in Tehran’s Palestine Square, chanting “Death to Israel, Death to America!”
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas condemned Haniyeh’s killing as a “cowardly act”.
Palestinian factions in the Israeli-occupied West Bank called for a general strike and protest marches across the territory. – August 1, 2024