GAZA STRIP: According to Hamas, ten family members of its leader, Ismail Haniyeh, who is stationed in Qatar, were killed on Tuesday by an Israeli air strike. Haniyeh had promised to carry on the “resistance” effort against Israel.
The Israeli military stated that although it “could not confirm” the reports, it “was aware of them.”
According to Hamas and Gaza’s civil defense organization, the attack targeted the Haniyeh family’s residence in the Al-Shati refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.
Mahmud Basal, a spokesman for the civil defense, stated, “There are 10 martyrs [..] as a result of the strike, including Zahr Haniyeh, sister of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh.”
Many remains were probably still under the debris, he said, but “we do not have the necessary equipment” to retrieve them.
Since October 7, over 60 of Haniyeh’s family members have perished, according to him.
According to Basal, there were “several wounded” in the incident, and civil defense personnel moved the dead that had been recovered to the Al-Ahli hospital in adjacent Gaza City.
In a statement, Hamas listed the bombing of the Haniyeh family’s house among the “massacres” it said Israel had carried out on Palestinian territory.
By purposefully pursuing innocent civilians and carrying out the most horrifying crimes against them, Israel “continues to defy all international laws, human norms and values,” according to the statement. Later on Tuesday, Haniyeh stressed in a different statement that his family’ deaths would not in any way discourage the organization.
According to Basal, there were “several wounded” in the incident, and civil defense personnel moved the dead that had been recovered to the Al-Ahli hospital in adjacent Gaza City.
In a statement, Hamas listed the bombing of the Haniyeh family’s house among the “massacres” it said Israel had carried out on Palestinian territory.
By purposefully pursuing innocent civilians and carrying out the most horrifying crimes against them, Israel “continues to defy all international laws, human norms and values,” according to the statement. Later on Tuesday, Haniyeh stressed in a different statement that his family’ deaths would not in any way discourage the organization.
“Every martyr in Gaza and Palestine is from my family, so if the criminal enemy believes that attacking my family will cause us to change our position and affect our resistance, then he is deluding himself,” declared Haniyeh.
“The blood of our martyrs demands that we follow our path with determination, without giving in, without changing, and without weakening.” In an Israeli strike in central Gaza in April, Haniyeh lost three sons and four grandkids; the IDF accused them of “terrorist activities.”
Approximately sixty members of Haniyeh’s family had perished since combat started on October 7, according to his statement at the time.
