China on Wednesday reiterated its opposition to “forced displacement” of Palestinians.

Iranians follow a truck, center, carrying the coffins of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard who were killed in an assassination blamed on Israel on Wednesday
| Photo Credit: AP

Iran held a funeral ceremony on August 1 with calls for revenge after the killing in Tehran of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in a strike blamed on Israel.

Thousands of mourners paid respects to Haniyeh as the Israeli military confirmed that an air strike in Gaza last month killed the Hamas military chief, Mohammed Deif.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led prayers for Haniyeh ahead of his burial in Qatar, having earlier threatened a “harsh punishment” for his killing.

In Tehran’s city centre, crowds, including women shrouded in black, carried posters of Haniyeh and Palestinian flags in a procession and ceremony that began at Tehran University.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announced the day before that Haniyeh and a bodyguard were killed in a pre-dawn strike on Wednesday on their accommodation in Tehran.

It came just hours after Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander, Fuad Shukr, in a retaliatory strike in the south of Lebanon’s capital Beirut, raising fears of a wider regional conflict as the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza continues. Shukr is to be buried on Thursday.

‘Duty to respond’

Senior Iranian officials including President Masoud Pezeshkian and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps chief, General Hossein Salami, attended the ceremony for Haniyeh, state TV showed. Qatar-based Haniyeh had been visiting Tehran for Mr. Pezeshkian’s inauguration ceremony on Tuesday.

Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas’s foreign relations chief, vowed during the funeral ceremony that Haniyeh’s message will live on and “we will pursue Israel until it is uprooted from the land of Palestine”.

Mr. Pezeshkian later told Mr. Hayya that Iran “will continue to support with firmer determination on the Axis of Resistance”, Iran-aligned regional groups that include Hamas, the official IRNA news agency said.

Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said, “It is our duty to respond at the right time and in the right place.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the strikes in Tehran and Beirut represented a “dangerous escalation”.

New York:

India is committed to support a two-state solution where the Palestinian people are able to live freely in an independent country, with due regard to the security needs of Israel, India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ruchira Kamboj has said.

Delivering an address at the United Nations General Assembly Meeting on the Use of Veto on Monday, Ms Kamboj said that India’s position on the conflict has been clear and has been stated on several occasions.

“Only a Two-State solution, achieved through direct and meaningful negotiations between both sides on final status issues, will deliver an enduring peace. India is committed to support a Two-State solution where the Palestinian people are able to live freely in an independent country within secure borders, with due regard to the security needs of Israel,” Ms Kamboj said.

Urging for immediate de-escalation, India’s Permanent envoy said, “In order to arrive at a lasting solution, we urge for immediate de-escalation, eschewing violence, release of all hostages, avoiding provocative and escalatory actions, and to work towards creating conditions for an early resumption of direct peace negotiations.”

“India’s position on the conflict has been clear and has been stated on several occasions by our leadership…the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas has led to large scale loss of civilian lives, especially women and children. As I mentioned before, this has also resulted in an alarming humanitarian crisis. This is clearly unacceptable,” she strongly noted.

Ms Kamboj said, “We have strongly condemned the deaths of civilians in the conflict. It is critical to prevent further escalation of violence and hostilities. It is imperative to avoid the loss of civilian lives in any conflict situation. International law and international humanitarian law must be respected under all circumstances.”

Reiterating India’s stance on Israel-Hamas war, she stated that the trigger of the conflict were the terror attacks in Israel on October 7 last year. Those attacks require unequivocal condemnation.

“India has a longstanding and uncompromising position against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. There can be no justifications for terrorism and hostage taking. We demand the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages,” Ms Kamboj said.

She called for humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza be scaled up immediately in order to avert a further deterioration in the situation.

“We urge all parties to come together in this endeavour. We welcome the efforts of the UN and international community in this regard. India has provided humanitarian aid to the people of Palestine and will continue to do so,” Ms Kamboj added.

The conflict in Gaza escalated after the October 7 attack by Hamas, where about 2,500 terrorists breached the border into Israel from the Gaza Strip, leading to casualties and the seizure of hostages.

Israel has characterised its Gaza offensive as targeting Hamas’ infrastructure with the goal of eliminating the entire terror group while making efforts to minimize civilian casualties.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has time and again, made it clear that Israel would not agree to a ceasefire, and has noted that calls for a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas.

Earlier on February 26, CNN reported that Hamas backed off some key demands in the negotiations for a hostage deal and paused the fighting in Gaza after Israeli said that its position was “delusional”.

It brought the negotiating parties closer to an initial agreement that could halt the fighting and see a group of Israeli hostages released, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.

Following the meeting held in Paris between the US, Egyptian, and Israeli intelligence chiefs and the Qatari prime minister, a senior Biden administration official said, “The major obstacles have been resolved in terms of Hamas insisting on a full withdrawal of Israeli forces and an end to the war,” CNN reported.

“Hamas’ requirements for the number of Palestinians (prisoners that) would have to be freed have declined,” the official added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)