BEIRUT (AFP) – More than a thousand mourners attended the funeral in Beirut on Thursday of Hamas number two Saleh al-Aruri who was killed in a Lebanon strike blamed on Israel.
Calling on Hamas to avenge his death and the killing of five other members of the Palestinian militant group on Tuesday, the mourners gathered at a mosque to recite the prayer of the dead before marching to Shatila refugee camp where three of them were buried.
The coffins of the three, Aruri, Azzam al-Aqraa of the Hamas military wing Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, and Mohammad al-Rais, were draped in Palestinian and Hamas flags.
A machine gun was laid on top of each coffin and heavy gunfire rang out as the funeral procession made its way to the cemetery, drowning out chants of "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest) by mourners waving Palestinian flags and those of Hamas ally Islamic Jihad.
"Abu Obeida, bomb Tel Aviv," the mourners shouted, addressing the Gaza spokesman of the Hamas military wing by his nom de guerre.
Aruri and the six other Hamas members were killed in a strike in a south Beirut stronghold of the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah.
Hamas and Lebanese security officials accused Israel of launching the attack, with one high-level Lebanese security official saying they were targeted by guided missiles.
A US defence official told AFP on Wednesday that Israel was behind the attack. Israel has not claimed responsibility.
Aruri is the most senior Hamas figure to be killed since the Gaza war broke out on October 7 after Hamas attacked Israel.
"The assassination of Saleh al-Aruri and of any other Palestinian is a failed act because the resistance will continue to produce new leaders," one of the mourners, Oman Ghannum, told AFP.
The 35-year-old Palestinian said he wanted to take part in the funeral procession "to denounce the genocide underway in Gaza and the violation of Lebanese sovereignty by Israel".
'THEY HAVE FAILED'
In a pre-recorded speech broadcast at the funeral, the Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, said: "The enemy thinks that with the assassination of Saleh al-Aruri, it can defeat the resistance and impose its conditions.
"But it has failed, and it will never be able to force Hamas to abandon its demands, its vision and its strategy," he said from his base in Qatar.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel in a speech on Wednesday against starting a war in Lebanon, vowing that his group would fight back without restraint.
Several Hamas figures in exile reside in Lebanon, under the protection of Hezbollah.
Israel vowed to "destroy" Hamas after the unprecedented attack on October 7, which left around 1,140 dead in Israel, according to an AFP count based on official figures.
The Israeli offensive on Gaza has killed 22,438 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Since the war began, there have been near-daily exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah in the border area.