3 sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh killed in Israeli strike in Gaza City

Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday confirmed the killing of three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in a recent airstrike conducted in the Gaza Strip.

Taking to X (formerly known as Twitter), IDF claimed that Haniyeh’s three sons — Amir, Hazem and Mohammad — struck while they were “en route to carry out terror activity in the area of central Gaza”.

Even Ismail Haniyeh, in an interview with the Al Jazeera satellite channel, said that three of his four sons “were martyred on the road to liberating Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque”.

“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.

“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, adding that “Anyone who believes that targeting my sons will push Hamas to change its position is delusional”.

Ismail Haniyeh lives in exile in Qatar. The Israeli airstrike occurred near the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, where Haniyeh is originally from.

According to the IDF, Amir Haniyeh was a squad commander in the Hamas military wing, while Hazem and Mohammad Haniyeh were lower-ranking operatives.

Meanwhile, Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV station claimed that brothers were traveling with family members in a single vehicle targeted by an Israeli drone. t said a total of six people were killed, including a daughter of Hazem Haniyeh, and a son and daughter of Ameer, the TV station added.

The recent strikes in Gaza came amid the low-key celebrations of Eid al-Fitr holiday with scores of Palestinians ending the holy fasting month of Ramadan and visiting the graves of loved ones killed in the war which started on October 7, 2023.

Earlier in the day, US President Joe Biden termed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza a ‘mistake’ and urged him to provide aid to the beleaguered territory.

Israel and Hamas are engaged in talks meant to bring about a cease-fire in exchange for the release of hostages captured by Hamas and others. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, over 33,400 Palestinians have been killed in the rigorous fighting, with most of the dead being women and children.