Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has confirmed three of his sons were killed Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip.
Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.”
The Hamas leader confirmed the deaths Wednesday in an interview with the Al Jazeera satellite channel, saying his sons “were martyred on the road to liberating Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
However, there was no immediate comment from the Israeli army.
“The criminal enemy is driven by the spirit of revenge and murder and does not value any standards or laws,” Haniyeh said in the phone interview.
He lives in exile in Qatar, where Al Jazeera is based.
According to him, the killings would not pressure Hamas into softening its positions, even as the two sides have been involved in months of cease-fire 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’ Al-Aqsa TV station stated that Hazem, Ameer and Mohammed Haniyeh were killed with family members in the strike near the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City.
The report said the brothers were travelling with family members in a single vehicle targeted by an Israeli drone, Al-Aqsa TV said, adding that a total of six people were killed, including a daughter of Hazem Haniyeh, and a son and daughter of Ameer.
The strike comes when international mediators have been trying to broker a new cease-fire agreement. It was not yet known what effect the strike would have on those talks.
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