News - Middle East: Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has thanked the Iranian leadership and people for organizing a massive funeral procession held in Tehran for its assassinated political chief Ismail Haniyeh.

"We express our thanks and appreciation to the Islamic Republic of Iran, its supreme leader, president, government, and people, for the measures taken to organize a massive official and popular funeral for the martyred leader Abu al-Abd [Ismail Haniyeh]," Hamas said in a statement on Monday.

During a ceremony held at Tehran University on Thursday, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei led funeral prayers for Hamas's Political Bureau Chief Haniyeh and his security guard.

Massive crowds of Iranian mourners then took part in the funeral procession for the assassinated Hamas official.

Haniyeh, who was in the Iranian capital to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Iran's newly-elected President Masoud Pezeshkian, was assassinated along with his bodyguard, in an Israeli attack on his residence in northern Tehran early on Wednesday.

The body of Haniyeh had been flown to Doha following the mass procession in central Tehran on Thursday.

Hamas also extended its appreciation for Qatar where thousands of people convened in the capital of Doha to hold a funeral prayer for Haniyeh on Friday. After the service, Haniyeh was laid to rest at a cemetery in Lusail, north of Doha.

"We express our appreciation for the position of the brotherly State of Qatar, represented by its Emir and Father Emir, its government, and its noble people, in receiving the body of our late martyr, the martyr of Palestine and the Ummah [Islamic world], and burying him in the soil of this blessed country, to embrace a great stature and a great symbol of Palestine, al-Quds, and the blessed al-Aqsa," the resistance group of Hamas added in the statement.

The statement also appreciated Turkey and some other Islamic countries for condemning the cowardly assassination of Haniyeh and holding funeral prayers in absentia for him.

Hamas also expressed gratitude for Palestinians who held massive protest rallies against Israel across the occupied lands to denounce the assassination.

"We also express our deep appreciation to our Palestinian people who rose in angry mass marches and responded to the call for performing absentee funeral prayers for the soul of the martyr Abu al-Abd under the bombing and destruction, expressing their love for the martyr leader Ismail Haniyeh and their loyalty to the blood of martyrdom that illuminates the path towards liberation and return."

The developments come amid heightened tensions in the region after the Israeli regime assassinated Haniyeh, pushing the region to the brink.

Tehran has vowed that the brazen act of aggression on its soil will not go unanswered.

Source: Press TV