Hamas leader’s sons killed in Gaza air strike
We will not waver, vows Ismail Haniyeh after three of his family are killed by IDF while visiting relatives
ISMAIL HANIYEH, the leader of Hamas, said the terrorist group would not waver in its war on Israel after the killing of three of his sons in an air strike.
The three men – Hazem, Amir and Mohammed Haniyeh – were hit by an Israeli strike yesterday near Gaza City’s al-shati refugee camp, Hamas said in a statement. Three of the men’s children were also reportedly killed.
Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, confirmed his sons’ deaths in an interview with Al Jazeera and thanked God for “bestowing upon us the honour of their martyrdom”.
He said the strike had no bearing on Hamas’s demands in ceasefire negotiations or its wider aims in the conflict.
“Their pure blood is for the liberation of Jerusalem and Al Aqsa, and we will continue to march on our road, and will not hesitate and will not falter,” Mr Haniyeh said. “With their blood, we bring about hope, a future and freedom for our people and our cause.”
“Our demands are clear and specific and we will not make concessions on them. The enemy will be delusional if it thinks that targeting my sons, at the climax of the negotiations and before the movement sends its response, will push Hamas to change its position,” he said.
“The blood of my sons is not dearer than the blood of our people.”
Haniyeh was filmed purportedly receiving the news of his children’s deaths while visiting wounded Palestinians at a hospital in Doha, Qatar, where he has lived in exile.
“May God ease their path,” he said, visibly unmoved as he made his way out
of a hospital ward. The 62-year-old, who watched the Oct 7 massacre from his hotel in the Qatar capital, accused Israel of targeting his family, saying that his sons were in al-shati to visit relatives for Eid, the final day of Ramadan. The IDF confirmed that it targeted and killed the three Haniyeh brothers as it described them as members of Hamas’s military wing. It said it could not verify reports their children also died in the strike.
The Haniyeh brothers were travelling with family members in a single vehicle targeted by an Israeli drone, Al-aqsa TV said. Footage from the scene showed an SUV stranded in the street with houses damaged by a blast wave.
The death of his sons could bolster Haniyeh’s reputation within Hamas after months of accusations that he had been watching the war in Gaza from the safety of Doha while other senior Hamas figures refused to leave the enclave.
Dozens of Haniyeh’s relatives have died in the war but the three sons and three grandchildren would be the most immediate family members he has lost.
Haniyeh’s sons were known to dominate Gaza’s real estate market and reportedly traded in power generators.
Unnamed Israeli officials told the Ha’aretz newspaper they feared that the killing of Haniyeh’s sons could derail a potential ceasefire deal. The United States has intensified pressure on Israel to agree to stop hostilities for a partial release of hostages.
Hamas, meanwhile, is struggling to track down or identify 40 Israeli hostages needed for the first stage of the potential deal, according to several Israeli media outlets.