Hamas leader brushes off news his family killed in airstrike

World News

By Snejana Farberov

A shocking video captured Hamas’ top political leader Ismail Haniyeh barely reacting to the news that his three sons and four grandchildren have been killed in an Israeli airstrike — and insisting that he continue with the tour he was on of a hospital.

Haniyeh, 61, was visiting injured Palestinians at the hospital in Qatar, where he lives in exile, on Wednesday when he got a call from someone saying through sobs in Arabic: “Hazem, Mohammed and Amir have been killed, along with their children.”

Hamas’ tough-talking chief diplomat barely reacts and remains unnervingly calm, only uttering the words: “God rest their souls.”

When an aide asks Haniyeh if they should cut the hospital visit short in light of the tragic development, Haniyeh casually dismisses the idea.

“No, why? Let’s continue,” he says, sounding bizarrely upbeat as he walks to the door.

Haniyeh, who has 13 children, according to Hamas sources, later said in an interview with Al Jazeera that his family members “were martyred on the road to liberating Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

The top Hamas leader’s sons and four grandchildren — three boys and a girl — were riding in a car through Gaza’s Shati refugee camp to visit relatives on the first day of the Eid-al-Fitr holiday when it was hit by an Israeli missile.

The Israeli military confirmed the airstrike, saying that Hanieyeh’s sons were targeted because they were terrorists.

It did not comment on the deaths of the grandchildren, claiming there was “no information on that right now.”

Haniyeh lashed out at Israel, saying it was “driven by the spirit of revenge.”

He said the deaths of his loved ones would not soften Hamas’ stance in the ongoing cease-fire talks with Israel.

“The blood of my sons is not dearer than the blood of our people,” he told Al Jazeera. “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.”

It has since emerged that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out the bombing that annihilated Hanieyeh’s family members allegedly without consulting neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, reported Walla news citing senior officials.

The attack was planned by the IDF and the Shin Bet internal security service, according to the report.

With Post wires