The Israeli navy says it struck and killed three sons of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, saying they had been working as operatives for the militant group contained in the Gaza strip.
An announcement from the navy mentioned the airstrike occurred Wednesday. It described the boys as a cell commander and two navy operatives.
Haniyeh’s sons are among the many highest-profile figures to have been killed within the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The three sons — Hazem, Amir and Mohammad — had been killed after the automotive they had been driving in was bombed in Gaza’s Al-Shati camp, Hamas mentioned. Three of Haniyeh’s grandchildren had been additionally killed within the assault and a 3rd was wounded, Hamas media mentioned.
Haniyeh confirmed the deaths in an interview with the Al Jazeera satellite tv for pc channel.
“The legal enemy is pushed by the spirit of revenge and homicide and doesn’t worth any requirements or legal guidelines,” Haniyeh mentioned within the cellphone interview.
In his interview with Al Jazeera, Haniyeh mentioned the killings wouldn’t strain Hamas into softening its positions.
“The enemy believes that by focusing on the households of the leaders, it should push them to surrender the calls for of our individuals,” he mentioned. “Anybody who believes that focusing on my sons will push Hamas to vary its place is delusional.”
Haniyeh lives in exile in Qatar, the place Al Jazeera is predicated. Hamas’s Al-Aqsa TV station aired footage of Haniyeh receiving the information of the deaths whereas visiting wounded Palestinians who’ve been transported to a hospital in Doha.
As an aide obtained the information on his cellphone, Haniyeh nodded, appeared down on the floor and slowly walked out of the room.
“There isn’t any may and no energy however by God,” Haniyeh muttered. “Could God make issues simple for them.”
Haniyeh’s eldest son confirmed in a Fb put up that his three brothers had been killed. “Due to God who honoured us by the martyrdom of my brothers, Hazem, Amir and Mohammad and their kids,” wrote Abdel-Salam Haniyeh.
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Al-Aqsa TV mentioned Hazem, Ameer and Mohammed Haniyeh had been killed with members of the family within the strike close to the Shati refugee camp in Gaza Metropolis. Ismail Haniyeh is initially from Shati.
The brothers had been travelling with members of the family in a single car focused by an Israeli drone, Al-Aqsa TV mentioned, including {that a} complete of six individuals had been killed, together with a daughter of Hazem Haniyeh, and a son and daughter of Ameer.
It was not instantly clear how their deaths may have an effect on the months-long ceasefire talks being brokered by worldwide mediators.
Earlier, Israeli conflict cupboard minister Benny Gantz claimed Hamas has been defeated militarily, though he additionally mentioned Israel will struggle in opposition to it for years to return.
“From a navy standpoint, Hamas is defeated. Its fighters are eradicated or in hiding” and its capabilities “crippled,” Gantz mentioned in a press release to the media in Sderot.
However, he added: “Preventing in opposition to Hamas will take time. Boys who at the moment are in center faculty will nonetheless struggle within the Gaza Strip.”
Folks gathered for vigils in Jerusalem and world wide to recollect these killed or taken hostage on Oct. 7, whereas the declining state of affairs in Gaza will increase requires a ceasefire.
Gantz reiterated the Israeli authorities’s dedication to enter Rafah, the town within the far southern tip of the Gaza Strip the place greater than half the territory’s inhabitants of two.3 million individuals is now sheltering. “Wherever there are terrorist targets — the IDF shall be there,” he mentioned.
The strike got here as Palestinians in Gaza marked a muted Eid al-Fitr vacation ending the holy fasting month of Ramadan, visiting the graves of family members killed within the conflict. Within the Jabaliya refugee camp close to Gaza Metropolis, individuals sat quietly by graves surrounded by buildings destroyed in Israel’s offensive, which was in response to the lethal Hamas-led assault on Oct. 7.
Six months into the Israel-Hamas conflict, Sajjan Gohel, worldwide safety director on the Asia-Pacific Basis, discusses how the battle has impacted the area and the place it would go from right here.
Israel launched the conflict in response to the assault, throughout which militants killed 1,200 individuals, principally civilians, and took roughly 250 individuals hostage, based on Israeli authorities.
Greater than 33,400 Palestinians have been killed within the relentless combating, based on Gaza’s Well being Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its depend however says a lot of the useless are ladies and youngsters. Israel says it has killed some 12,000 militants, with out offering proof.
The conflict has ignited a humanitarian disaster. A lot of the territory’s inhabitants has been displaced and with huge swaths of Gaza’s city panorama levelled within the combating, many areas are uninhabitable.
