IRAN’S supreme leader and representatives of Palestinian militias prayed today over the coffins of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard who were killed in a shocking assassination blamed on Israel.

The killing has raised the risk of the fighting in Gaza between the Israelis and Hamas escalating into an all-out regional war.

It comes as Israel claimed today that it killed a senior Hamas military leader in an attack in July.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei prayed over Mr Haniyeh’s coffin at Tehran University while Iran’s new President Masoud Pezeshkian stood next to him. 

Mr Haniyeh, came to Tehran to attend the inauguration of Mr Pezeshkian. He was killed by an air strike in Tehran. Iranian authorities said the attack is under investigation but have not provided details.

Israel had pledged to kill Mr Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders over the group’s October 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the fighting in Gaza that has left at least 40,000 Palestinians dead. 

The strike came just hours after Israel targeted a top commander in Iran’s ally Hezbollah in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

Mr Haniyeh had survived a previous assassination attempt by the Israelis in 2003.

In April, three of Mr Haniyeh’s sons and several of his grandchildren were killed by the Israelis and in June his sister and her family were killed.

After Mr Haniyeh was killed Ayatollah Khamenei said: “We consider his revenge as our duty,” saying that Israel had “prepared a harsh punishment for itself.”

But United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken today appealed for countries to “make the right choices in the days ahead” and said that a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza was the only way to begin to break the current cycle of violence and suffering. 

Committee for the Defence of the Iranian People’s Rights general secretary Gawain Little, said there is a real danger “of a widespread military conflict” taking place.

The World Peace Council has also called for a ceasefire and an international day of solidarity with Gaza and Palestinian prisoners for Saturday August 3.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military said on Thursday that it has confirmed that the head of Hamas’s military wing, Mohammed Deif, was killed in an air strike in Gaza in July. 

Israel believes that Mr Deif, the head of Hamas’s military, and Yahya Sinwar, the top Hamas leader in Gaza, were the chief architects of the October 7 attack that killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel and triggered the Israel-Hamas war. 

Hamas has said Mr Deif survived the July attack in Gaza and did not immediately comment on the military’s announcement of confirmation.