ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday declared a day of national mourning for Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader who was assassinated in Tehran.
“In order to show our support for the Palestinian cause and our solidarity with our Palestinian brothers, a day of national mourning has been declared tomorrow (Friday, August 2) due to the martyrdom of Hamas Political Bureau Chairman Ismail Haniyeh,” Erdogan said in a presidential ruling.
Haniyeh was killed at around 2 am local time in Tehran on Wednesday, according to Iranian media. Hamas has blamed Israel.
Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari told reporters on Thursday that Tel Aviv did not carry out any airstrikes in Iran the night Haniyeh was killed.
"I want to make things clear: there was no other Israeli aerial attack, neither by missile or drone, that night in all the Middle East. I won't say anything more,” he was cited by the AFP as saying.
In a phone call with United States President Joe Biden on Thursday, Erdogan said Benjamin Netenyahu’s government “has shown at every step that it does not aim for ceasefire or peace,” and that “the assassination carried out against Hamas Political Bureau Chief Ismail Haniyeh has dealt a heavy blow to the ceasefire efforts, and that Israel seeks to spread the fire in Gaza to the entire region,” according to a statement from the Turkish presidency.
