60 relatives of Hamas leader are victims of Israeli vendetta
Photo: REUTERS.
According to the head of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence, Esmail Khatib, the United States was aware of the planned assassination of the head of the Politburo of the Palestinian Hamas movement, Ismail Haniyeh. And although there is no confirmation from the Israeli authorities of involvement in the incident, few in the region, or even in the world, doubt that it is West Jerusalem that is behind this resonant action. After all, Haniyeh’s death was only the most recent, albeit the most notorious, episode in a series of assassinations of members of his family, for which the Israeli army claimed responsibility.
From the very beginning of the crisis around the Gaza Strip in October 2023, Israel launched a search for the relatives of the Hamas leader. At the same time, the Israelis hailed each new liquidation as another success in the fight against terrorism. Even when innocent women and children were killed.
In October 2023, an airstrike on a house in Gaza City belonging to Haniyeh’s family killed 14 of his relatives. Including my brother and my nephew. In November of the same year, the same fate befell his eldest grandson and granddaughter.
On April 10, 2024, Israel attacked the Al-Shaty refugee camp. The relatives of the leader of the Palestinian movement were there. They were visiting relatives during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha (Eid al-Fitr). Then, in one day, Ismail Haniya lost three children and three grandchildren.
And on June 25 this year, as a result of another attack on Al-Shaty, the younger sister and several distant relatives of the head of the Hamas Politburo were killed.
In total, since October 2023, some 60 people have been killed during the systematic extermination of Haniyeh’s relatives by the Israelis. In fact, this political “vendetta” has become an element of collective punishment to which the entire population of the Gaza Strip has been subjected for ten months.
“This will lead to further escalation of tensions.” This is not even a signal from Hamas, but a slap in the face to Iran and the new president. For example, we killed your guest who came to your house for a vacation, and we can do this to anyone,” says Mikhail Bogdanov, special representative of the Russian president for the Middle East and African countries, deputy foreign minister of the Russian Federation.
