Gaza: Ismail Haniyeh, the chief of Hamas’ political bureau, lost three sons and three grandchildren to an Israeli airstrike on a vehicle in Gaza, according to the group and Haniyeh’s family. Haniyeh resides in Qatar and is now the tough-talking face of Hamas’ international diplomacy as war with Israel has raged on in Gaza for six months, resulting in widespread death and destruction in the besieged territory.

The three sons – Hazem, Amir and Mohammad – were killed after the car they were driving in was bombed in Gaza’s Al-Shati camp, Hamas said. Three of his grandchildren were also killed in the attack, according to the Hamas-run media. A video was uploaded by Israeli channel Haaretz showing Haniyeh being informed about the deaths of his sons and grandchildren.

Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder”, saying his 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 with Al Jazeera TV.

“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 still negotiating for ceasefire

Amid concerns that the deaths of Haniyeh’s family members would setback ongoing ceasefire negotiations in Cairo, Haniyeh appeared to continue with the talks. “The blood of my sons is not dearer than the blood of our people,” said the 61-year-old Haniyeh, who has 13 sons and daughters. However, the Israeli military said it was checking the report about the deaths of Haniyeh’s sons and grandchildren.

The three sons and three grandchildren were making family visits during the first day of the Muslim Eid ul-Fitr holiday in Shati, their home refugee camp in Gaza City, according to relatives. Haniyeh’s eldest son confirmed in a Facebook post that his three brothers were killed. “Thanks to God who honoured us by the martyrdom of my brothers, Hazem, Amir and Mohammad and their children,” wrote Abdel-Salam Haniyeh.

Appointed to the militant group’s top job in 2017, Haniyeh has moved between Turkey and Qatar’s capital Doha, avoiding Israeli-imposed travel restrictions in blockaded Gaza and enabling him to act as a negotiator in the latest ceasefire negotiations or communicate with Hamas’ main ally Iran. Israel regards the entire Hamas leadership as terrorists, accusing Haniyeh and other leaders of continuing to “pull the strings of the Hamas terror organisation”.

Israel-Hamas ceasefire negotiations in Cairo

In the meantime, Hamas said on Tuesday it was studying an Israeli ceasefire proposal in the more than six-month-old Gaza war but that it was “intransigent” and met none of the Palestinian demands. “Our demands are clear and specific and we will not make concessions on them. The enemy will be delusional if it thinks that targeting my sons, at the climax of the negotiations and before the movement sends its response, will push Hamas to change its position,” Haniyeh said.

Earlier reports said Hamas had rejected a ceasefire proposal, as an official said no progress had been made in the negotiations. However, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz described the Cairo talks as the closest the sides have come to a deal since a short-lived November truce under which Hamas freed nearly half of its hostages. Of the 253 people Hamas seized on October 7, 133 hostages remain captive.

Meanwhile, Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz claimed Hamas has been defeated militarily, although he also said Israel will fight against it for years to come. “From a military point of view, Hamas is defeated. Its fighters are eliminated or in hiding” and its capabilities “crippled,” Gantz said in a statement to the media in Sderot.

This comes as Israel is preparing to launch a military operation in the city of Rafah, where over half of the territory’s population of 2.3 million people is now sheltering, sparking global alarm. US President Joe Biden  has called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza a mistake and called for his government to flood the beleaguered territory with aid, ramping up pressure on Israel to reach a ceasefire and widening a rift between the staunch allies.

Pressure on Netanyahu

Biden has been an outspoken supporter of Israel’s war against Hamas. But in recent weeks his patience has appeared to wane and his administration has taken a more stern line with Israel, rattling the countries’ decades-old alliance and deepening Israel’s international isolation over the war. The most serious disagreement has been over Israel’s plans for an offensive in Rafah

Netanyahu, who is on trial for alleged corruption, is under pressure to decide on a postwar vision for Gaza. Critics say he is delaying because he doesn’t want to anger his ultranationalist governing partners, who support resettling the Gaza Strip, which Israel withdrew from in 2005 and an idea Netanyahu has ruled out.

Netanyahu’s governing partners also oppose making significant concessions to Hamas and have threatened to exit the government — a step that would cause the ruling coalition to collapse and trigger new elections. More than 33,400 Palestinians have been killed in the relentless fighting, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

(with inputs from Reuters, AP)

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