ISTANBUL - Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters marched through the streets of central Istanbul late on July 31 to protest the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

       Haniyeh was assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran in an attack that drew threats of revenge on Israel and fuelled further concern that the conflict in Gaza was turning into a wider Middle East war.

       The demonstrators held posters with Haniyeh’s photos and banners reading, “Martyr Haniyeh, Jerusalem is our cause and your path is our path”.

       Protesters were chanting “murderer Israel, get out of Palestine”, “thousands of greetings from Istanbul to the resistance in Gaza” and waving Turkish and Palestinian flags during the march in the Fatih district of Istanbul.

       Although the strike on Haniyeh was widely assumed to have been carried out by Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government made no claim of responsibility and said it would make no comment on the killing.

       Haniyeh, normally based in Qatar, had been the face of Hamas’ international diplomacy as the war set off by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct 7 has raged in Gaza. He had been taking part in internationally brokered indirect talks on reaching a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave.

       Earlier on July 31, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan condemned the assassination in Tehran and said the killing would not break Palestinians’ will. REUTERS