Falconpowers – The Hebrew newspaper “Haaretz” refuted Israel’s claim that the sons of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political bureau of Hamas, were on their way to carry out a “terrorist activity.” The newspaper considered these allegations “unacceptable” and stated that Hamas mourned the deaths of seven of Haniyeh’s sons and grandchildren who were “martyred in a cowardly and treacherous Israeli airstrike” that targeted their car in the Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City.
In an analytical article in “Haaretz,” the newspaper’s Palestinian affairs correspondent, Jacky Khoury, stated that Israel’s claim that Haniyeh’s sons were on their way to carry out a terrorist activity is “unacceptable even to Hamas opponents, especially since their children were with them.”
Khoury considered the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh’s three sons as a retaliatory and frustrating act by Israel, rather than a significant military operation that infiltrated the organization’s ranks and caused shock and imbalance.
He added, “It is not expected that the revenge achieved by Israel will achieve any other defined goal. Haniyeh’s sons were not classified as mysterious figures, and attacking them did not lead to a deep intelligence penetration of the organization. The assassination only serves to strengthen Hamas among the Palestinian public.”
He pointed out that since the outbreak of the war and with the increasing destruction and killing in Gaza, Hamas leaders, including Haniyeh, faced internal criticism, especially in the Arab world, for living a life of luxury in Qatar while the people of Gaza faced Israeli destruction. They were also criticized for their efforts to smuggle their relatives through the Rafah crossing at the beginning of the war.
Haniyeh immediately announced the deaths of his sons upon receiving the news of the assassination, considering it a blessing that they attained martyrdom and stating that it is evidence that his sons did not abandon their people in the Gaza Strip. It is also expected that the timing of the assassination, on the first day of Eid al-Fitr, when the three individuals were, according to Hamas, on a family visit, will be highlighted.
In response to the assassination of his sons and grandchildren, Haniyeh emphasized in a recorded statement to Al Jazeera that the blood of his sons is “no more precious” than the blood of other martyrs who preceded them during the Israeli war on Gaza, which has entered its seventh month.
