Hamas leader buried in Doha as Biden says killing has 'not helped' ceasefire efforts

Crowds gathered in Doha yesterday to bury the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, assassinated in Tehran on Wednesday, as the US president, Joe Biden, said the killing had "not helped" efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza and warned he was concerned about escalating regional conflict.

- Emma Graham-Harrison

Iran has vowed revenge for the humiliating attack in the heart of its capital, which came just hours after Israel had killed the top military commander of Hezbollah in an airstrike on Beirut.

Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said the killings had pushed its conflict with Israel into "a new phase", at the funeral on Thursday of Fuad Shukr, who had been second-incommand of the group. The response would be a "real, studied" strike, not a symbolic attack, he added.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the country was "in a state of very high readiness for any scenario". Ministers had been given satellite phones in case Iran's retaliation took down communications, Israeli media reported.

Air India yesterday joined a growing list of carriers - from Lufthansa to Delta - that have cancelled flights to Israel, and France urged its citizens to leave Iran.

Cyprus said it had drawn up plans to support a large-scale evacuation from the region if the war expanded. The island nation helped tens of thousands of people leave during the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.