Hamas leader buried in Doha as Biden says killing has ‘not helped’ ceasefire efforts

Jerusalem, NT Bureau: Crowds gathered in Doha to bury the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, assassinated in Tehran this week, as the US president, Joe Biden, said the killing had “not helped” efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza and warned he was concerned about escalating regional conflict.

Iran has vowed revenge for the humiliating attack in the heart of its capital, which came just hours after Israel killed the top military commander of Hezbollah in an airstrike on Beirut.

Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said the killings had pushed its conflict with Israel into “a new phase”, at the funeral on Thursday of Fuad Shukr.

The response would be a “real, studied” strike, not a symbolic attack, he added. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the country was “in a state of very high readiness for any scenario”.