An Israeli airstrike killed 10 family members of a senior Hamas terrorist leader, including one of his sisters, Gaza health officials said Tuesday.
Relatives of Qatar-based Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh were taken away when Israeli forces bombed their home in the Al-Shati refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, members of the family and doctors.
“There are 10 martyrs (…) following this strike, including Zahr Haniyeh, sister of the head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh,” Mahmud Basal, spokesperson, told Agence France-Presse. of the civil defense of the territory ruled by Hamas.
He said a number of bodies were likely still buried under the rubble, but they did not have the equipment to extract them.
Haniyeh, who heads Hamas diplomacy and is the public face of the group that rules Gaza, has lost numerous family members in Israeli airstrikes since the October 7 terrorist attacks.
Three of his sons and four grandchildren were killed in a single strike in central Gaza in April. At the time, the terrorist leader said about 60 members of his family had been killed since the start of the war.
Separately, the latest attack was one of three separate airstrikes carried out by Israeli forces on Tuesday that left at least 24 Palestinians dead, Gaza health officials said.
The other airstrikes hit two schools in Gaza City, killing at least 14 people, local medics said.
The Israeli military confirmed that two of the structures were school complexes, but said the buildings “were used by Hamas as a shield for its terrorist activities.”
As part of these strikes, the Israeli Air Force targeted militants who had been involved in planning attacks against Israel, including some involved in holding hostages captive and others who took part to the cross-border bloodshed of October 7, military officials added.
Hamas, which has denied using civilian facilities such as schools and hospitals for military purposes, described the attacks on the two schools and the Al-Shati camp house as “massacres.”
Meanwhile, Israeli tanks also moved deeper into the western areas of Rafah, south of the enclave, overnight, including blowing up houses, according to residents.
The armed wings of Hamas and allied Islamic Jihad groups said in a joint statement that their fighters fired mortar shells overnight at Israeli forces in the Yibna neighborhood, east of Rafah.
And, in nearby Khan Younis, medics said Israeli tank shelling injured several people in a tent camp west of the city.
With post wires
New York Post
