In a devastating blow to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza has claimed the lives of three of his sons and at least two grandchildren. Speaking from his base in Doha, Qatar, Haniyeh confirmed to Al Jazeera that his children Hazem, Amir, and Mohammad, along with several of their children, were killed while visiting relatives for Eid at the Shati refugee camp.
The Hamas political leader revealed that around 60 members of his family, including nieces and nephews, have been killed since the start of the war on October 7. Despite the personal tragedy, Haniyeh maintained that the attack would not change Hamas's demands for a permanent ceasefire and the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes in ongoing negotiations mediated by Doha and Washington.
"If they think that targeting my children at the peak of these talks before the movement's [Hamas's] response is submitted will cause Hamas to change its positions, they are delusional," Haniyeh said, referring to Israel. "The blood of my children is not more valuable than the blood of the children of the Palestinian people ... All the martyrs of Palestine are my children."
The Israeli military later described Haniyeh's sons as Hamas military operatives who were on their way to "carry out terrorist activities in the central area of the Gaza Strip." However, the statement did not mention the grandchildren who were killed in the attack.
The war, which began after Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel, has claimed the lives of more than 33,400 Palestinians. Israel has also leveled large parts of Gaza and imposed a strict blockade on the territory, bringing its more than two million inhabitants to the verge of famine.
US President Joe Biden has recently shifted his stance on the conflict, calling for a ceasefire and increased humanitarian aid to Gaza. In an interview with Univision, Biden described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's actions in Gaza as a "mistake," stating, "I don't agree with his approach."
Biden's comments came a day before a tense phone call with Netanyahu, in which he sought answers about an Israeli drone strike that killed seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen and extracted promises that Israel would do more to protect civilians and allow more desperately needed aid into Gaza.
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has prompted growing domestic and international pressure on the Biden administration to take action. Washington has provided strong diplomatic and military support to Israel since the start of the conflict but has been forced to belatedly shift its stance in light of the deteriorating situation in the besieged strip.
Despite Israel's announcement that it had pulled all of its ground troops out of southern Gaza for "tactical reasons," ground battles continued to rage in several areas of the strip on Wednesday, killing at least 127 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
The war in Gaza has also raised fears of a regional conflict, particularly following the killing of Gen Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior figure in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards, in an Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic building in Damascus, Syria. Iran has vowed to retaliate, prompting Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz to warn that Israel would strike Iran directly if it launched an attack from its territory.
