The head of the political bureau of Hamas says Israel’s assassination of his children will not make the Palestinian resistance group to back down on its goals and demands in the latest round of talks aimed at reaching a truce in the Gaza war.
Ismail Haniyeh made the remarks in a phone interview with Qatar-based Al Jazeera TV network on Wednesday, after an Israeli airstrike killed three of his sons — Hazem, Amir and Mohammad — and four grandchildren in the al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza Strip.
“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,” he said.
The Israeli military and the regime’s so-called internal security service, Shin Bet, confirmed killing Haniyeh’s sons, who were visiting relatives on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr before their vehicle was struck.
The assassination came at a time, when Hamas is preparing a response to Israel’s proposal for a Gaza ceasefire delivered through mediators during the negotiations in Cairo.
Also in his remarks, Haniyeh said killing his sons would only make Hamas “more steadfast in our principles and adherence to our land.”
The resistance group, he added, would “not surrender, and […] not compromise […] no matter how great our sacrifices are.”
The Hamas leader also noted that around 60 members of his family, including nieces and nephews, have been martyred during the Gaza onslaught.
“All our people and all the families of Gaza have paid a heavy price in blood, and I am one of them,” he said.
This is the moment when Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh received news that his sons and grandchildren were killed by an Israeli air strike during his visit to a hospital in Doha treating those who were wounded in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/OarOQFxYmP
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) April 10, 2024
Haniyeh further decried Israel’s brutality in Gaza, saying the regime is conducting a war of ethnic cleansing and genocide on the besieged territory.
“There is no doubt that this criminal enemy is driven by the spirit of revenge and the spirit of murder and bloodshed, and it does not observe any standards or laws,” he stressed.
Israel waged its bloody US-backed war on Gaza on October 7 after Hamas carried out its historic operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for the regime’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
So far, the occupying regime has killed at least 33,482 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 76,049 others.
