Zahr Abdel Salam Haniyeh, the older sister of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, was killed Tuesday morning along with her family members in an airstrike on their home in the Al-Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City
Palestinian medical sources said that more than 30 people were killed in a series of airstrikes that occurred during the early morning hours in several areas of Gaza City.
The Civil Defense Service in the Gaza Strip confirmed that 10 relatives of Ismail Haniyeh were killed. The spokesman for the Gaza Civil Defense, Mahmoud Bassel, told the French news agency AFP: "We received a distress signal after the home of the Haniyeh family was attacked in the Al-Shati camp."
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Ismail Haniyeh with his older sister Zahr Abdel Salam Haniyeh, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Al-Shati camp near Gaza City
Hamas condemned the attack and said in a statement: "The bombing of the Haniyeh family home in the Al-Shati camp, in which 10 civilians were killed, including the sister of the head of the Hamas movement, Ismail Haniyeh, is a confirmation of the fascist government's continued defiance of all international laws and values."
Ismail Haniyeh commented on the death of his sister and other relatives. "If the criminal enemy thinks targeting my family will change our position or that of the resistance, they are delusional, because every martyr in Gaza and Palestine is from my family," he said. Haniyeh added: "We still claim that any agreement that does not guarantee a cease-fire and an end to the aggression is not an agreement. Our position will not change at any point."
On the eve of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday in the Al-Shati camp, three of Haniyeh's sons and three of his grandsons were killed in an Israeli attack. Shortly after the assassination became public, Haniyeh went live on the Al Jazeera network and spoke calmly. "Thank God for the honor he gave us with the martyrdom of three of my sons and several of my grandchildren. With this pain and blood, we create hope, a future and freedom for our people, our cause and our nation," said Haniyeh, who was informed of the assassination while visiting wounded Gazans in a hospital in Doha, the capital of Qatar.
The Al-Shati camp is considered the nucleus of the Haniyeh family. The family has lived there for more than 60 years. Ismail himself used to live there before he left Gaza, and he and his sons and his extended family still own a lot of property in the camp as well as other property in Gaza City.