Hamas’ top leader Ismail Haniyeh was buried in Qatar yesterday following his assassination in the Iranian capital Tehran as senior officials of Hamas and other mourners said their fight against Israel would intensify.

Airlines are avoiding Iranian and Lebanese airspace and cancelling flights to Israel and Lebanon, as concerns grow over a possible conflict in the region after the killing of senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah this week.

Hezbollah forces yesterday resumed rocket and artillery attacks against Israel, ending the lull along the border following Israel’s killing of the Lebanese group’s military commander in Beirut.

Iran held funeral processions on Thursday for Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh after he was killed in a strike in Tehran blamed on Israel

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran yesterday morning, the Palestinian group and Tehran said, drawing threats of revenge on Israel in a region already shaken by the offensive in Gaza and a deepening conflict in Lebanon.

Thousands of Palestinians returned to their homes in the ruins of Gaza’s main southern city Khan Younis yesterday, after Israeli forces ended a week-long incursion there which they said aimed to prevent Hamas from regrouping.

Israel struck Hezbollah’s stronghold in southern Beirut on Tuesday in retaliation for rocket fire from Lebanon that killed 12 children over the weekend, saying it had targeted the commander responsible for the attack.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday vowed a “severe” response to a deadly strike that killed youths in the annexed Golan Heights, as diplomats raced to contain escalation between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israeli forces advanced deeper into some towns on the eastern side of Khan Younis in southern Gaza yesterday and tanks advanced in central Rafah, with airstrikes and shelling killing 30 Palestinians over the past day, health officials said.

Israeli forces carried out new raids in the Gaza Strip yesterday, hours before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to address the US Congress.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized a Togo-flagged oil tanker on Monday and arrested its 12 foreign crew members over alleged fuel smuggling, the Guards’ news website said.

Hamas announced yesterday that it had signed an agreement in Beijing with other Palestinian organisations including rivals Fatah to work together for “national unity”, with China describing it as a deal to rule Gaza together once the offensive ends.

A top WHO official said yesterday he was “extremely worried” over possible outbreaks in Gaza after poliovirus was detected in the sewage, warning that communicable diseases could cause more deaths than injuries.

The Israeli military yesterday ordered Gaza civilians to leave the eastern part of Khan Yunis city, saying it was preparing to “forcefully operate” there after rockets were fired from an area designated as a humanitarian zone.

The Middle East was reeling from deadly violence yesterday with Israel bombing Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen in quick succession in response to attacks from Iran-backed militant groups.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has said Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territories is “illegal and should come to end as rapidly as possible.”

Palestinians yesterday mourned relatives killed in overnight Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip, where Israel’s prime minister has vowed to intensify the pressure on militants even as demands grow for him to reach a deal that would free hostages.

More than 10 million Sudanese, or 20 percent of the population, have been driven from their homes since the war there began, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said yesterday, as the world’s largest displacement crisis continues to worsen.

Nine people were killed, including three attackers, in an assault on a Shia Muslim mosque in Oman late on Monday, authorities said, in a rare breach of security in one of the most stable countries in the Middle East.

Access to Gaza has become increasingly difficult for humanitarian groups, 13 leading NGOs warned on Monday, accusing Israel’s military of blocking much-needed aid from reaching the Palestinian territory.