Mourners bury Hamas chief Haniyeh in Qatar as escalation looms over Middle East

Hamas fighters carry mock coffins of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard who was killed in an assassination in Tehran, during a symbolic funeral in Beirut, Lebanon (Hussein Malla/AP)

Thousands of mourners converged around the flag-draped coffin of Hamas’ slain political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, in the emirate of Qatar on Friday as the fallout surged from his death in an alleged Israeli attack.

The funeral ceremony in Doha, Qatar’s capital, attended by members of Gaza’s militant Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups as well as Qatari and Iranian officials, was subdued.