Israeli strike kills 10 family members of Hamas chief
Israeli forces on Tuesday bombarded the besieged Gaza Strip, where Palestinian officials said one strike killed 10 family members of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas’ Political Bureau, including his sister.
According to Reuters, at least 24 Palestinians were killed in three separate airstrikes on Gaza City early on Tuesday.
The reported strike came three days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the “intense phase” of the war raging since October 7 was winding down, and as his defense minister was visiting Washington.
Israel’s military did not immediately confirm the early-morning strike, which the Civil Defense Service in Gaza said hit the family’s house in the northern al-Shati refugee camp, leaving some bodies trapped under the rubble, AFP reported.
“There are 10 martyrs and several wounded as a result of the strike, including Zahr Haniyeh, sister of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh,” Civil Defense Service spokesman Mahmud Basal told AFP.
Haniyeh lost three sons and four grandchildren in a strike in April. The Hamas chief at the time said about 60 of his relatives had died in the Gaza war.
Health Ministry in Gaza said Tuesday that at least 37,658 people have been killed during more than eight months of war.
2,000 children lost
one or two legs
Meanwhile, the head of the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees said that ten children per day are losing one or both of their legs in the war in Gaza.
“Basically, we have every day 10 children who are losing one leg or two legs on average,” UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini told reporters in Geneva.
Citing figures from the UN children’s agency UNICEF, he said that figure “does not even include the arms and the hands, and we have many more” of these.
“Ten per day, that means around 2,000 children after the more than 260 days of this brutal war,” Lazzarini said.
He said amputation often takes place “in quite horrible conditions,” sometimes without anaesthesia.
Save the Children said on Monday that up to 21,000 children are estimated to be missing in the chaos of the war.