ISRAELI DRONE KILLS 3 SONS OF HAMAS LEADER
Men targeted in airstrike among war’s highest-profile casualties
The Israeli military says it struck and killed three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, saying they were operatives for the terrorist group.
The military said the airstrike happened Wednesday. It described the men as a cell commander and two military operatives.
Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far.
Haniyeh, who lives in exile in Qatar, confirmed the deaths Wednesday in an interview with the Al Jazeera satellite channel.
“The criminal enemy is driven by the spirit of revenge and murder and does not value any standards or laws,” he said in the phone interview.
He said the killings would not pressure Hamas into softening its positions. The two sides have been involved in months of ceasefire talks.
“The enemy believes that by targeting the families of the leaders, it will push them to give up the demands of our people,” he said. “Anyone who believes that targeting my sons will push Hamas to change its position is delusional.”
Hamas’s Al-aqsa TV station said Hazem, Ameer and Mohammed Haniyeh were killed with family members in the strike near Shati in Gaza City. Ismail Haniyeh is originally from Shati.
The brothers were travelling with family members in a single vehicle targeted by an Israeli drone, Al-aqsa TV said. It said a total of six people were killed, including a daughter of Hazem Haniyeh, and a son and daughter of Ameer.
Earlier, Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz said Hamas has been defeated militarily, although he also said Israel will fight against the terror group for years to come.
“From a military point of view, Hamas is defeated. Its fighters are eliminated or in hiding” and its capabilities “crippled,” Gantz said in a statement to the media in Sderot.
But, he added: “Fighting against Hamas will take time. Boys who are now in middle school will still fight in the Gaza Strip.”
Gantz reiterated the Israeli’s government commitment to go into Rafah, the city in the far southern tip of the Gaza Strip where more than half the territory’s population is now sheltering.
“Wherever there are terrorist targets — the IDF will be there,” he said.
Meanwhile Iran’s Supreme Leader again promised to retaliate against Israel over the killings of Iranian generals in a strike on its consulate in Syria.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke Wednesday at a prayer ceremony in Tehran celebrating the first day of the Eid al-fitr holiday and the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan. He said last week’s attack on Iran’s consulate in Damascus,
widely attributed to Israel, was akin to an attack on Iranian territory. “The evil regime must be punished, and it will be punished,” he added.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz appeared to respond, posting on social platform X in both Farsi and Hebrew: “If Iran attacks from its territory, Israel will respond and attack in Iran.”
The strike on April 1 killed 12 people, including seven Iranian Revolutionary Guard members, four Syrians and a Hezbollah militia member. Israel has not acknowledged its involvement, though it has been bracing for an Iranian response to the attack, which marked a significant escalation in their long-running shadow war.
Iran supports Hamas as well as the Lebanese Hezbollah.
In Washington, U.S. President Joe Biden called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza a mistake and called for his government to flood the beleaguered territory with aid, ramping up pressure on Israel to reach a ceasefire and widening a rift between the staunch allies.
WHEREVER THERE ARE TERRORIST TARGETS — THE IDF WILL BE THERE.
Biden had supported Israel’s war against Hamas, which began when Hamas fighters invaded southern Israel and killed 1,200 people and took 240 more as hostages. But in recent weeks Biden’s administration has taken a more stern line with Israel.
The most serious disagreement has been over Israel’s plans for an offensive in Rafah. The rift was worsened by an Israeli airstrike last week on an aid convoy that killed seven workers with the World Central Kitchen charity, most of them foreigners.
Israel said the deaths were unintentional but Biden was outraged.
Biden’s latest comments, made in an interview that aired late Tuesday and recorded two days after the WCK strike, highlight the differences between Israel and the U.S. over humanitarian aid to people in Gaza, where the war has led to warnings of imminent famine for more than a million people. “What he’s doing is a mistake. I don’t agree with his approach,” Biden told Spanish-language broadcaster Univision when asked if Netanyahu was prioritizing his political survival over Israel’s interest.
Under U.S. pressure Israel has slowly increased aid trucks allowed to enter the territory and says its has opened up more entry points for trucks to enter and reach especially hard-hit areas like northern Gaza.