The Civil Defense in the Gaza Strip announced on Tuesday, June 25, that ten members of the family of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh were killed in an Israeli army airstrike on a refugee camp in Gaza City.
Fatal Strike on Refugee Camp
Zahr Haniyeh, the sister of the Palestinian Islamist movement leader, was among those killed in the raid on the Shati camp, according to Mahmoud Bassal, the spokesperson for the Civil Defense. Alongside Zahr, nine others lost their lives, and several were injured in the attack.
The bodies were transported to Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza. "A number of martyrs are still under the rubble," said Bassal. "We are facing difficulties in retrieving them due to a lack of equipment and fuel." The Israeli military has not confirmed these reports.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Hamas condemned the bombing of the Haniyeh family home, labeling it another addition to the list of "massacres" committed by Israel in the Palestinian territory.
Ongoing Conflict and Civilian Casualties
Hamas claims these actions demonstrate Israel's continued defiance of international laws, norms, and human values by deliberately targeting innocent civilians and committing atrocities against them.
This attack follows a similar incident in April, where three sons and four grandchildren of Ismail Haniyeh, who lives in exile in Qatar, were killed in an airstrike on the Shati camp.
The Israeli military confirmed it had killed the three sons, describing them as "military agents of the terrorist organization Hamas."
Escalating Violence in Gaza
The latest figures from the Hamas-led government in Gaza, in power since 2007, report 37,626 deaths since then, mostly civilians.
The conflict was sparked by an unprecedented attack by Hamas commandos on Israeli soil on October 7, resulting in 1,195 deaths, primarily civilians, according to Israeli official data.
