The tragic martyrdom of Ismail Haniya and the Ummah

The voice of the oppressed Muslims of Palestine, the martyrdom of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, is not only a loss for Hamas and Palestine, it is an irreparable loss for the entire Muslim Ummah.  Ismail Haniyeh, who crushed the pride of the "invincible powers", enlightened the world with the true meaning of Tawheed "Allahu Akbar". Ismail Haniyeh was among the leaders of Hamas whose entire families fought and made sacrifices for the liberation of Palestine. Since October 7, 2023, the enemies of Islam brutally martyred 70 members of the family, including his mother, three sons, one daughter, two brothers, two sisters, nieces and nephews, to demoralize him. However, his determination and independence did not decrease. At the time of the attack, Ismail Haniyeh was in Iran to participate in the ceremony of the newly elected president, at 2 pm local time, in the heart of Tehran.  He was martyred along with the guard in the missile attack. The missile that was fired at the Hamas leader is of American technology, which makes it not difficult to guess that Israel attacked with American support. On the other hand, the American Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement that if there is an attack on Israel, they will defend it. While the American Secretary of State expressed ignorance about this attack.  And according to the spokesperson of the Israeli government, he will not comment on it. Two and a half months ago, Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi was the victim of a helicopter accident.  Initially, it was declared as a conspiracy by Israel, but later it was declared as an accident by Iran. However, Iran's avoidance of blaming Israel and what happened now is even more regrettable.  This is also being questioned. According to the European observer for the Middle East, Elijah Magnier, Israeli spy software was used to target Ismail Haniyeh.  Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated after a call with his son.  Because Ismail Haniyeh's location was identified during the call. Ismail Haniyeh's son Abdus Salam said that his father got what he wanted, and Israel and the United States were responsible for his murder. Ismail Haniyeh was killed by the Israeli army.  This is not the first time Israel has killed Hamas or Hezbollah leaders. Israel has a bloody history of killing Hamas leaders.  For the past several years, Israel has carried out such targeted killing operations in which PLO leaders, Hamas leaders, Iranian army commanders, and Hezbollah commanders have been killed.  Israel has acknowledged some of these but has not yet claimed responsibility for some of the killings. The assassination of Ismail Haniyeh has added a name to a long list of Israeli target killings.  Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei says that Tehran must take revenge for Haniyeh's murder.  Red flags have been raised in Iran, which represents the spirit of revenge in Iran. Hamas spokesman Musa Mazrouq said on the martyrdom of its leader Ismail Haniyeh that it was a cowardly act by Israel.  Haniya's death will be avenged.  Their sacrifice will not be in vain.  Hamas said that we are ready to pay any price to liberate Jerusalem from Israel.

 Pakistan has also strongly condemned the killing of Ismail Haniya.  According to the spokesman of the Foreign Office, Pakistan condemns any extra-judicial and extra-territorial, border terrorism, we are deeply surprised at the timing of this attack. Sheikh Ismail Haniya, a ruler and history-maker who was very popular among the people due to his courage and bravery, the center of his struggle was "Hamas".  Ismail Haniyeh's entire life was spent fighting against the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and there was never an opportunity in which his steps faltered. The greatest achievement of Hamas is that it created a determined generation of faith, whose "Book of Life" does not contain expressions like "fear, fear, defeat, humiliation, cowardice, self-surrender and wisdom and interest that misleads from the destination". This is what Palestine proved the broken buildings, scattered bodies, cities turning into ruins, starvation, flames raining from the sky, the sounds of wailing and crying from all sides, and the pieces of the body of their livers and corners proved their steadfastness.

 Ismail Haniyeh was born in 1962 in the Shatti refugee camp in the west of Gaza City. He received a degree in Arabic literature from the Islamic University in 1987. Later in 2009, he was given an honoree doctorate. He was a young founding member of Hamas when it was founded in 1988. In 1997, he became the personal secretary of the spiritual leader of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.  After being arrested again in 1992, Ismail Haniyeh was deported to Lebanon, after which Ismail Haniyeh returned to Gaza the following year after the Oslo Accords. In 2006, after the majority of Hamas in the Palestinian elections, Ismail Haniyeh was appointed as the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority.  This government could not last long due to differences between Hamas and Fatah, but the rule of Hamas in Gaza was maintained. In 2017, Khalid Meshaal was replaced by the head of Hamas. He was part of the peace talks many times.  A few hours ago, Israeli warplanes attacked Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, killing three people, including two children, and injuring 74.  Hezbollah commander Fawad Shukar, who was also a military adviser to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, was also killed in the attack.  The target of the attack was Fawad Shukar, whose head was set at 5 million dollar’ bounty by the United States.  The systematic plan to kill Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian soil is a reflection of the nefarious ambitions of the Hindus and Jews that they want to spread the Palestinian war to the entire region. And now the situation in the Middle East has become even more serious.

 After the martyrdom of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political wing of Hamas, the UN Security Council convened an emergency meeting. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described Israel's attacks on Beirut and Tehran as a "dangerous escalation" of tensions, and an emergency meeting of the Security Council was called at the request of representatives of Iran, Russia, China, and Algeria.  It is hoped that maybe the Muslims will be heard in the UNO, otherwise it will be the usual sitting, talking, and dismissing. The moment to think is that Israel is constantly targeting Muslim countries and leaders one by one.  How long will we continue to bear the martyrdom of our children, youth, elders, and women?  Condemnation statements are not the solution at all.  Various forums and army such as the OIC Forum, army of Muslim countries, Arab League is the medicine for what disease?

The writer is contributing columnist.