Ismail Haniyeh’s eldest son confirms in Facebook post that three of his brothers were killed (File)
Cairo:
Three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza on Wednesday, Palestinian Islamist groups and Haniyeh’s family said.
Hamas said the three sons – Hazem, Amir and Mohammed – were killed in a car they were driving in Gaza’s al-Shadi camp. Hamas media said two of Haniyeh’s grandchildren were also killed in the attack and a third was wounded.
“Our demands are clear and specific, and we will not make concessions to them. It is paranoia for our enemies to think that targeting my son at the height of negotiations, before the movement responds, will force Hamas to change its position ,” Haniyeh told pan-Arabic Al Jazeera.
“The blood of my son is not more precious than the blood of our people,” said Haniyeh, who is based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar.
As the war with Israel rages in the Gaza Strip, Haniyeh has been the tough face of Hamas’s international diplomacy. His home was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike last November.
Hamas said on Tuesday it was studying an Israeli cease-fire proposal but that it was “stubborn” and did not meet any Palestinian demands.
An Israeli air and ground offensive has devastated Gaza as the war enters its seventh month, and Hamas wants Israel to halt military operations, withdraw troops from the enclave and allow displaced Palestinians to return home.
Haniyeh’s eldest son confirmed in a Facebook post that his three brothers had been killed. Abdel-Salam Haniyeh wrote: “Thanks be to God, we have been honored by the martyrdom of my brothers Hazem, Amir and Mohammed and their children.”
Haniyeh, who was appointed to the group’s top job in 2017, commutes between Turkey and the Qatari capital Doha, avoiding travel restrictions imposed by Israel in blockaded Gaza and enabling him to serve as a negotiator in the latest ceasefire talks , or communicate with Iran, Hamas’ main ally.
Israel considers the entire Hamas leadership to be terrorists, accusing Haniyeh and other leaders of continuing to “manipulate the Hamas terror organization.”
But it is unclear how much Haniyeh knew in advance about the Oct. 7 cross-border attack on Israel by Gaza operatives. The attack, planned by the Hamas military council in Gaza, was such a closely guarded secret that some Hamas officials abroad seemed shocked by its timing and scale.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
